New Delhi: Alcohol and sex are passé. Drug cocktails and rave parties have become new mantra of celebration for urban youth with fat wallets, thanks to numerous job opportunities. This year too, they endorse the same pattern for the festive mood.
India's GenNext is ready to welcome this season of revelry with music and buffet of drugs. Their plans of where to party and which drug to enjoy have already been rolled out well in advance.
"Alcohol is history. Man/Woman drinking alcohol is largely considered middle-class and losers. Now people who draw mammoth salaries are pushing themselves for something more and new that can drive them crazy. They quickly want to catch up with the western lifestyle," said a 25-year-old call centre executive.
"Some only indulge so that they are not branded 'losers' among friends and colleagues. People are adopting whatever is considered good in well-to-do societies. They want to make their presence felt with drugs, and are falling prey to it. 'Toddlers' (newcomers) too try their hand at it," the executive, who similarly got spooked by heroin a year ago, told IANS.
Adds an advertising executive: "This is the reason why you witness spurt in such parties and more drug consumption during the festive seasons. Christmas and New Year are just the perfect occasions, when work pressure is less and people don't have much to do. They just party - party hard with cocktail of drugs."
The advertising executive said for such dark parties, everything is pre-planned. Only a very select group of people is invited and the 'stuff' (drugs) for such occasions is stocked well in advance as drugs get costlier due to high demand and less availability during the festive season.
According to officials, rave parties and consumption of synthetic drugs, popularly known as party drugs, are emerging as the latest trend and a new threat to India. It touches an all-time high during festivities.
"Though there is no specific data, it has been observed that consumption of party drugs - Ecstasy, heroin, cocaine, hash, LSD, codeine, Ice, ephedrine and marijuana - go up significantly during the festive revelry," Rajiv Walia, a top official of UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) here, told IANS.
"The problem of synthetic drugs such as Ecstasy is simmering in India and we have to be extra cautious about it. This is not an epidemic yet but an emerging threat to India," Rajiv Walia said.
In parties among the elite, a group walks into the bathroom and comes back minutes later with bright euphoric eyes, all charged up.
Drugs are served just like exotic cuisine and partygoers get their "high" depending on the music that sets the mood for the party.
If the Disco Jockey (DJ) belts out heavy metal numbers, it's a cue for them to order Ecstasy. But if he is playing blues, it's time for hash.
Since Ecstasy, heroin and cocaine are more aggressive drugs, they are consumed when rock or retro music is being played at the party. Marijuana and hash are taken when the DJ plays country music or jazz.
Youngsters party all night, cocktailing on drugs like cocaine, Ecstasy, acid and speed, reach home in the early hours of the morning, pop Valium pills to sleep, then struggle back to work in the morning - waiting for the next opportunity to party again.
Cocaine or Ecstasy -- preferences seem to vary with age. College kids do Ecstasy, at Rs 300 to Rs 400 a tablet, with an "ecstatic duration" of five to six hours (ideal for a party).
Cocaine, at Rs 3,000- Rs 5,000 a gram depending on the quality, is usually snorted by a slightly older generation that starts at the late 20s and moves through to the mid-30s.
"Sometimes youngsters have a cocktail of drugs to keep pace with the changing music. Mixing of drugs can be very dangerous and it should be avoided at any cost. In fact, people should not take drugs in the first place," a senior police official said.
According to Walia, these drugs are a combination of psychoactive drugs that have stimulant and hallucinogenic qualities and are similar to other street drugs known for causing brain damage.
They also damage the body by raising its temperature, which can cause muscle breakdown and heart and kidney failure.
A senior official of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), who keeps tab on such parties, says: "We know that such parties are being organised in large numbers in the capital. But we do not have much information about people who run drug rackets," he said.
Officials say those who are not part of the secret parties, just throng pubs, discotheques, lounges and bars that have mushroomed in satellite towns near the capital and are popular haunts for many youngsters.
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