The Tobacco Trap

New data reveal how one in four adults in the valley now uses tobacco, exposing a public health crisis that is spreading fast.

- Mohammad Hanief

Tobacco use has become one of the most alarming public health problems in Jammu and Kashmir today.

Awareness campaigns run year after year. Warning labels cover every cigarette pack. Fines exist on paper. But tobacco continues to find its way into city cafes, rural courtyards, college campuses, and roadside stalls.

Smoking and chewing tobacco have become part of the region's social life, cutting through age, class, and gender.

The latest data from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS-2) and the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) show that 23.7 percent of adults in Jammu and Kashmir use tobacco in some form. Of these, 20.8 percent are active smokers, and 4.3 percent use smokeless varieties such as gutkha and snuff.

These figures are among the highest in India and reveal a disturbing trend that shows little sign of slowing.

The difference between men and women is stark but revealing. Nearly 35 percent of men in Jammu and Kashmir smoke, compared to only about 5 percent of women. For now, female smoking remains rare, shaped by cultural attitudes.

But urban lifestyles and changing social spaces could alter that balance in the coming years.

District-level data tell a more worrying story. In Kupwara, more than half the adult population, around 56 percent, uses tobacco. Shopian follows at 52 percent, Bandipora at 49 percent, and Anantnag at 48 percent.

In contrast, Jammu district records much lower levels. The variations show that while intensity differs, tobacco has spread across the entire Union Territory.

The rise of smoking among adolescents is perhaps the most dangerous trend of all.

A recent survey in Srinagar found that nearly one in four school students, about 23 percent, are already smokers. Early experimentation in school often turns into lifelong addiction.