The other day, at a social function, the person seated alongside realised my work was to write, so he cautiously introduced a point. After excusing himself, and the intrusion of this unrelated topic, he went on to express his fears and concerns about an issue we often overlook: narcotics.
"There's so much of it all over the place. Youngsters are indulging in it rampantly. It's even sold next to the market. To be perfectly honest, I'm worried that my own children could fall victim to it tomorrow," was how he put it. Or, words to that effect, as I was not note-taking.
For the sake of confidentiality, we need not go into details. This came up at at a typical Goan village. It could be yours, it could be mine. Narcotics is like a ghost. It's hard to see.
Like Prince Jacob, the humour king of the Konkani stage put it in the blockbuster film 'Nachoiia Kumpassar': "Have you ever seen a ghost?" No, we mostly don't see ghosts. Everyone 'knows' someone who claims to have seen one, but few of us have seen it ourselves.
So, could we be imagining it? Is this just a form of moral panic by elders about something we don't quite understand? Isn't it true that our parents generation (in the 1960s) were themselves rather skeptical of our generation and its values? Is history just repeating itself?
On the other hand, it is quite possible that we might be underestimating the problem as well. It could well be that this issue is mostly underground, and only poorly reflected in official statistics.
In fact, the narcotic or drug situation in Goa does seem to be getting more serious overall. Take some facts and figures, based mainly on perceptions and updates from the local media. Some key indicators:
* Drug seizures have risen sharply. For example, in 2024 Goa police seized 274 kg of narcotic substances worth ~ Rs10 crore; arrests happen on average “one person every second day” in narcotics cases.
* There has also been a marked increase in involvement of locals in drug trade. About 42% of those arrested in recent raids are Goans. This means a hike of ~ 80% compared to the previous year.
* Perhaps most concerning is the shift toward more synthetic or potent substances: fentanyl overdoses, the spread of chemicals, MDMA, hydroponic ganja, etc.
(By way of background: the powerful synthetic opioid Fentanyl is used for severe pain but often misused as a dangerous street drug, 50“100 times stronger than morphine. Ecstasy, or MDMA, is a synthetic drug that produces euphoria, heightened energy and emotional warmth, together with risks of dehydration, anxiety and neurotoxicity (damage to the nervous system). Hydroponic ganja is cannabis cultivated without soil in nutrient-rich water systems, producing higher-potency buds.
* Enforcement seems improving (more inter-agency coordination, more intelligence and larger hauls), but conviction rates are dismal. Action is increasing, but we have reason to believe that the problem is growing in scale and severity.
Narcotics and Goa have a long connection, though not a traditional one. Our is not like in other parts of India where narcotics have had long-standing cultural or traditional acceptance. Goa is not Rajasthan-Madhya Pradesh where opium (afeem) was used among Rajputs for ritual or social bonding; or like North India where bhang (cannabis leaves in drinks or edibles) were linked to festivals like Holi or Mahashivratri (especially in UP's Varanasi and Mathura).
Nor does its history run parallel to the Himalayalan belt (HP, Uttarakhand, Kashmir) where ganja and charas have been tied to ascetic and spiritual practice. At most, the betel-slaked lime-arecanut traditional chew with tobacco and spices was the favoured form of mood-altering substances. This does not amount to 'narcotics'.
Following the arrival of the hippies in Goa, one of the ingredients of their holidays here was their mood-altering substances. Officials and politicians in power then of course steadfastly denied it.
By the 1970s, narcotics were drawing in local youth. In those times, it was mostly urban and semi-urban Catholic young male students who were being drawn in. Not surprisingly too, as their culture was more open to Westernisation, or interacting with the Western tourists at full-moon parties or the flea market. This might seem like a simplification, but it does reflect a bit of the reality then.
There were occasional unexplained deaths of college kids, and growing addictions, besides a few ending up in long NDPS jail sentences. In one case, a journalist colleague who might have been guilty of speaking 'a bit extra' with the police at a late night tryst almost faced the possibility of getting 'fixed' with an NDPS case himself, though he was not known to consume narcotics.
There were other complications too. Going with the hype over narcotics, the authorities came down with a heavy hand. Youth, local from the rest of India and foreign, ended up in long jail sentences. When the Goa RTI Act was brand new, one recalls digging out a long list of foreigners who had been jailed under NDPS charges, which was something perhaps nobody had noticed.
Over time, this section of the population slowly started showing an ability to cope; though the current state is hard to divine. Along the way, in the 1990s and 2000s, the 'target' shifted to less affluent and not-so-Westernised youngsters. In our village, young Hindu boys who worked in professions like taxi-driving also ended up in addictions, and in one case, death.
Goa's road with narcotics has been long and winded. We can't afford to let the guard slip over this. Its impacts could be severe and serious; take a look at Punjab. Ten grams of caution is better than a kilogram of regret.
