Pushed to the limit: Women and children using heroin

KARACHI: There is a small fishing village in the coastal area of Karachi called Rehri Goth where instead of fish, drugs are sold. Here, heroin, which is readily available, is the drugs of choice. It is not just the men who are addicted to it, women and children are also seen on the streets in a state of intoxication.

Hanifa has been using heroin for 30 years. Her dependence has reached the point where a single packet of the opiate no longer satiates her addiction and she experiences severe withdrawal symptoms when made to go without. “My husband took drugs and I first tried it just for fun. Now I feel like needles are being driven into my body when I do not get my dose,” she explains. “I tried treating the addiction, but it did not help.”

Hanifa was married previously; both her first and second husbands are now dead as are three of her six children. Her other three children are also addicts — they roam the streets of the settlement getting closer and closer to death. Other village children are not far behind.

A drug peddler, Basri, is in the business of selling ‘tokens’ — the name given to one packet of heroin. “I get the drugs from Geedar Colony. I sell one token for Rs70 with a profit of Rs10,” she says. The settlement does have a police force, but they are either in cahoots with the peddlers or simply indifferent because they have never stopped me from entering the village, says a proud Basri.

Basri is not a drug addict herself but her 30-year-old son has lost a foot due to drug addiction. Repeatedly injecting the drug into his leg has resulted in the foot wasting away. Cannabis (charas) is another commonly available substance used by Rehri Goth residents.

Using a cloth as a filter, they smoke the substance in a pipe called a ‘sulfi’.

The fishermen claim that they turn to drugs in despair. The resources coming in from the government never reach them and their nets, which cost hundreds of thousands of rupees, are often stolen.

Decrying the women of Rehri Goth, social worker Kamal Shah says these intoxicated women are unconcerned with their children’s future or well-being. “Satisfying their addiction is all they care about.”