Beyond the smoke: Psychological impact of weed on youth and its criminal fallout

Mumbai: Two students of Business Administration at Mainpal city have been arrested for consuming cannabis in their apartment. The police team, headed by Inspector Mahesh Prasad, seized 2.105 kg of cannabis from one of the students. Another student was arrested in Udupi with 627 grams of cannabis.

While India has some of the strictest drug laws, surveys are showing that youth are smoking more weed than ever. What is an even bigger problem? The youth does not see it as a problem.

Students think it is “cool” and “natural”. For a dealer, it is a steady income. For a forensic psychologist, it is a bomb. Weed is not only altering young minds, but it is also fuelling a dangerous nexus of crime in India.

What hooks students and youth?

In a person’s life, adolescence is often marked by a heightened risk-taking tendency. Teenagers are neurologically predisposed to seek new things and make cannabis an especially interesting experiment.

Monika (name changed) said, “I started doing weed to fit in. In my college, a lot of students would go to a house party and all of us would smoke up,” recalling her first time smoking weed.

This is confirmed by Gaurav Gill, a psychologist and a body language expert with the Delhi Crime Branch. “Peer pressure is one of the major reasons why young people fall into the trap of cannabis use. The fear of being excluded from a group is outweighed by their personal wish not to try certain things," he said.

Academic stress in today's time is one of the most significant factors affecting the youth in India. Exams, placements, assignments, and career anxiety are stressors that cannabis helps relax quickly. This becomes a way to escape the stressors in reality. Pop culture is also to blame. They portray weed as cool and a way to find your creative groove. This does not help in raising awareness about the consequences, but only deepens the effect of this drug.

Gaurav Gill also mentioned, “Some neuroscience- Teen brains continue to develop until their mid-20s. The 'feel-good' chemical dopamine is highly active in teen brains and rewards new experiences.” According to him, the highly active reward centres in the brain push teens towards seeking new and exciting experiences. He also says, “The Prefrontal cortex region in the brain is the last one to mature, hence the impulse control, decision making, and thinking about future consequences.”

Accessibility is no problem. In many urban cities, weed is cheaper than alcohol. According to my experience, being a student in a dry state for 2 years, alcohol is expensive as it is sold on the black market, and weed, as well as other drugs, are not only relatively easily accessible but also cheap. A lot of students find cannabis to be helpful in “coping and focusing,” but it is only a short-term relief. In fact, it brings a person into the grey zone of addiction and relief.

Psychological Impact on Youth:

The relaxation, heightened senses, and alteration in time perception are some impacts that are immediately seen by consumption of cannabis, but what is harmful are the deeper psychological effects that are long-lasting.

Consistent use of cannabis disrupts short-term memory, attention, as well as concentration, processing speed and some of the executive functions. These impairments are directly linked to the effects seen on academic performance, career readiness, and emotional regulation. When Prof. Ambalal Patel, a retired professor, was asked if he saw any effects in his students, he mentioned, “Regular cannabis use can reduce focus, memory retention, and health issues. Over time, it affects academic performance.”

From a forensic psychology angle, weed lowers inhibitions and increases their vulnerability to social influence. When Sameer Wankhede (Former Zonal Director, NCB) was asked why students and the youth are targeted, he said, “They deliberately target the youngsters, especially students from 8th standard to 12th standard. These age groups are easily gullible, so they try to sell them hydroponic weed and weed gummies and even bongs and vapes and all those things.” According to his experience, once the children try it, they get addicted. He mentions the way these children are recruited as peddlers, “They try to take pocket money from their parents, and once they exceed the limits set by their parents, the supplier tells them that they will receive more supplies only if they sell them. The poor consumer kid also turns into a peddler.”

We see how a youngster, under stress, begins what they think is personal consumption and how it quietly pulls them into a criminal structure.

The Crime and Terror Funding Nexus

“The most important drug for narco-terrorism is heroin, which is grown in Afghanistan and is coming across the Indo-Pak border, and it is being pumped by tunnels, drones at the Indo-Pak border, and coming in through barges and all those things.” He adds that heroin is the major drug that contributes to narco-terrorism. He says, “If we talk about hydroponic weed, it is coming into the country through, there are some legalized countries, like Thailand, the Netherlands, and some states in Canada and the US have legalized it. They get imported illegally and are coming into the country via air, and sometimes via containers. We have also seen it,” said Sameer Wankhede.

In his interview, he also mentions that they have not yet seen much of narco-terrorism, and according to what he has read, there are still limited instances of this activity.

Forensic Psychology Recommendations

Looking at this issue from a forensic psychological viewpoint, addressing the use and abuse of weed among Indian youth requires a multi-layered approach that goes beyond punitive measures.

According to Gaurav Gill, the interventions are required in the early days. “In my recent experience of working as a crusader in the ‘Mothers against Drugs Programme’ organized by Punjab Lit Foundation, if we happen to counsel teens in the early days of it, it makes a huge difference.” In this campaign, Gaurav Gill and others teach mothers to identify non-verbal cues of stress in their children. He mentions, “Early counselling can help the teens to avoid it from becoming a habit. Early intervention and treatment can help to stop the development of addiction. Early detection and intervention. Family support is a must,” he said

From the perspective of an educator, Prof. Ambalal Patel, “Parents and teachers should be actively involved in students’ lives beyond academics. The members of the society should inform the police authorities about the supply of drugs near the campus. And inviting expert doctors and the rehabilitation centre in charge for lectures to the campus every year regularly can definitely help to avoid students going in the wrong direction.” He also says that adding subjects to the curriculum, as well as dedicated therapists and psychologists in every university, will be helpful.

“Two things are very important. Number 1 is that there are drugs that are still not included in the NDPS Act, which need to be added, and second, the dual use of the drugs, NRF medicines are there, like Etizolam, Zolpidem, and Diazepam, are NRF medicines for dual use,” Sameer Wankhede said.

According to him, a proper and effective implementation is required so that there is no diversion in the drug market regarding this.

Conclusion

Cannabis and weed are harming the country in ways that are far more than they appear. It is clouding the young minds while also fuelling organized crime in India. The need is to protect the students today who will protect our nation tomorrow.

Disclaimer: Tanisha Agrawal is an independent writer and the views are of that of the author