"It is a very big problem here. All my friends from when I was a teenager are users or dead," said Faqir, 32, who used to run a snack shop until his own drug habit forced him to stop. After years of use, Faqir has just been through a month of rehabilitation. There are no state facilities available so Faqir's family sent him to one of the dozens of private centres that have sprung up, unlicensed and unregulated. Run by former addicts without any training, treatment usually consists of effective imprisonment with dozens of other users in a single room and frequent beatings.
Desperate wives and parents pay up to 5,000 rupees (£65) to have a user picked up against their will in the hope that their habit will be broken. "It doesn't work because if you are treated badly you are angry when you leave. You go back to drugs just to make a point," Faqirsaid.
