Himachal’s Dark Reality: 66 Drug Overdose Deaths, 1200 Arrests In Three  Years 

The tranquil hills of Himachal Pradesh, once synonymous with peace and natural beauty, are now confronting a darker reality.

Behind the calm facade of its towns, mountain villages, and capital Shimla, families are battling an escalating drug crisis gripping teenagers and youth. The result is a deadly spiral of overdoses, deepening addiction and rise in crime, increasingly resembling the crisis witnessed in Punjab.

The crisis is also drawing an increasing number of women and young girls into drug abuse and trafficking, while minors are being lured into the trade as “couriers.”

Investigations reveal that 123 government employees, including around two dozen police personnel, allegedly involved in drug trafficking, have also been dismissed from service.

Sixty-six drug overdose deaths in the past three years are almost an equal number to those going unreported, nearly 6,246 NDPS cases are registered, 1,200 arrests have been made, including several members of notorious interstate gangs. An increasing number of women and young girls has fallen victim to drug abuse and trafficking. Minors lured as safe and unsuspecting “couriers” by drug peddlers gangs are the latest victims.

Admits Director General of Police Ashok Tewari, "Synthetic drugs such as 'chitta' ( highly addictive adulterated heroin powder) are spreading rapidly in Himachal. The situation is a collective social challenge requiring strict enforcement and public cooperation."

He says, "Drugs don’t destroy just one person—they shatter the entire addict’s family. Himachal Pradesh is undeniably facing an alarming drug menace, especially among the youth, a highly vulnerable section of society that is increasingly being targeted by narcotics networks."

Spike in drug-related deaths

Data reveals a sharp rise after 2023, with 2024 recording the highest number of deaths, which was 31. While only eight deaths were reported in 2023, the number increased to 31 in 2024 and 27 in 2025. The police estimate 15 to 20 overdose deaths, including two siblings in Bilaspur.

Most overdose cases are associated with heroin (“chitta”), synthetic drugs, and opioid abuse. Officials have warned that the drug crisis is spreading from urban centres into rural districts such as Kangra, Mandi, Una, Shimla, Solan, Bilaspur and Kullu.

Heartbreaking testimonies from addicts, parents, and communities are a testimony to this growing crisis. A woman in Mandi reached the district prison to meet her jailed husband and was found carrying "Chitta" concealed in clothes. “He will die of withdrawal if he doesn’t get a regular dose," she told jail officials.

Another woman addicted to ‘Chitta’ said she was driven to drugs by her young daughter, who started giving her drugs disguised as medicine for knee pain, until she unknowingly became dependent on them. The daughter herself was in the drug net.

A woman from Kangra who was arrested with heroin told the police that she had purchased the drug for her addicted son because she “could not bear to see him suffer.”

The report also detailed how substance abuse is pushing many families into emotional and financial turmoil, often leading to theft within households, strained relationships, and psychological distress. In another account, a father described how his college-going son became addicted to chitta, leaving the entire family trapped in a state of anxiety, helplessness, and depression, leading to selling of assets and eventually dying of an overdose.

Doctors at the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital report a sharp rise in opioid addiction among the youth. A 24-year-old patient admitted to the psychiatric ward said he became addicted while working in Punjab and later struggled with severe withdrawal symptoms. “Heroin addiction often leads to overdose deaths and mental health collapse,' says Dr Rakesh Sharma, Director, Medical Education and Research.

Catching them young

A 13-year-old boy, travelling on an HRTC bus from Amritsar to Baijnath, was detained by the police in Kangra on April 30 for possession of narcotic substances, highlighting the alarming trend of how traffickers are targeting minors. D.S. Manta, a retired HAS officer, warns that the involvement of children in drug-related activities reflects a deeper social crisis.

The police admit that the drug crisis is also resulting in crimes such as thefts, robberies, and physical assaults on parents and others. A 40-year-old woman in a village in Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, died after being attacked with a sickle by a 14-year-old boy who attempted to rape her. A 19-year-old college student, Siya Guleria, was brutally murdered near Gopalpur in Sarkaghat. She was attacked with a sickle while on her way to college; the suspect, identified as Rishu Patial, had a history of substance abuse.

The cost of addiction

Dr. Satyavrat Vaidya, in charge at the Integrated De-addiction and Rehabilitation Centre at Bhuntar (Kullu), says severe addiction has pushed many individuals into financial ruin, with some drug users reportedly selling family land, property, and other assets to sustain their dependence on drugs.

“The addiction is not only destroying the health of young people but also destabilising households economically and socially, often leaving families burdened with debt, conflict, and long-term emotional trauma," says Dr Vaidya.

One youth cured at the centre allegedly spent Rs 30–40 lakh on drugs and eventually sold valuable family assets and his business venture at Solan.

Heroin derivatives like “chitta” have overtaken traditional cannabis use in Himachal Pradesh, despite the state’s long association with hashish culture that originated in Kullu’s Malana and Parvati valleys during the early 1990s/ This was at a time when backpackers and hippies popularised the region’s high-potency cannabis resin in international drug circuits.

By now, over the past decade, synthetic and chemically refined narcotics such as heroin and chitta have spread rapidly across the state, particularly among unemployed youth, replacing cannabis as the dominant substance of abuse.

Surveys suggest that over 34% of youths in de-addiction centers are addicted to synthetic drugs. The spike in intravenous use is alarming. More than 6,200 NDPS cases were registered between 2023 and mid-2026, with 1,200 arrests. Police data shows 2,147 cases registered in 2023, 1,717 cases in 2024, and 1,700 in 2025. By now, in 2026, almost 860 cases have been registered in the state.

In March this year, Shimla police’s drive against drugs exposed another shocking dimension, busting an interstate drug trafficking racket active in the town to illegally supply LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide)—a highly potent hallucinogenic substance marking a dangerous shift from traditional narcotics to synthetic highs. Around 562 LSD strips, valued at approximately Rs 1 crore in the international market, were seized involving two persons, including a 26-year-old woman from Sirmaur district.

As the investigations progressed, the police found two head constables and two constables were also involved in the trafficking.

DGP Ashok Tewari acknowledges the involvement of police personnel in drug-related activities as a grave concern, asserting that “any stain on the ‘khaki’ will not be tolerated at any cost.”

Earlier this year, Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu led a mass awareness drive against “Chitta” , holding district-level mass rallies of students, youth and social activists at Shimla, Dharamshala, Bilaspur and Una. The next phase of the campaign starts in June from Mandi with a focus on schools, colleges, and vulnerable panchayats.

“Administrative officers and police officials have been directed to personally visit educational institutions and conduct awareness sessions about the dangers of chitta and synthetic drugs. The government has also introduced mandatory anti-drug tests for recruitment in government departments and admissions to professional colleges such as medical, engineering, nursing, and pharmacy institutes,” says Sukhu

The chief minister has ordered the confiscation of the ill-gotten properties of drug peddlers and “bulldozer action” to bring down a building owned by a drug peddler. Property worth about Rs 51 crore linked to traffickers has reportedly been seized or attached. One building at Jawali in Kangra was demolished on Wednesday.

The Himachal Police and CID teams have mapped 234 “red-zone” panchayats identified as highly vulnerable to drug trafficking and abuse. Surveillance and raids have been intensified in districts including Shimla, Solan, Kangra, Mandi, Una, Bilaspur, and Kullu. All persons linked to drug crime have been debarred from contesting panchayat polls.

“The government has prepared an extensive rehabilitation plan as part of its anti-drug 'Chitta-Free Himachal' campaign, with Mashobra in the Shimla district emerging as a key centre for recovery and treatment. The initiative aims to move beyond police action and focus on long-term rehabilitation of drug addicts, especially youth and women affected by synthetic drugs like chitta (heroin)," informs Ashok Tewari.