Hugs, Not Drugs

It can be devastating to find out that your teenager is an addict, but there’s a lot you can do to get them on the road to recovery, finds Anika Mohla

Rohan Singh* was a bright 14-year-old studying at a prestigious Delhi school. A merit holder, he was also the captain of the school football team, which he had led to victory in various tournaments. Rohan’s parents—father a vice-president at a multinational, and mother a marketing professional— would swell with pride talking about their only child’s accomplishments. The world seemed perfect to them until the father was transferred to another city.

The mother says, “What initially seemed like my kid’s struggle to adjust to a new location and atmosphere soon turned out to be our worst nightmare. Rohan’s grades started falling; he would hardly go out to play and would often remain confined to his room. None of this made sense until one day when I found a pouch of black substance in the pocket of his denims.” That moment bracketed Rohan with 20 per cent of under-21 youth in India who are addicted to either drugs or alcohol. The fact that 24 crore of the country’s 44 crore children (2011 census) are adolescents is enough to give you a sense of the magnitude of the problem.

CHILDHOOD ON A HIGH