When you visualize a typical opium user, it’s likely you’d imagine a haggard man with sunken cheeks, dilated pupils and a distant gaze; not a physically fit member of the society.
Davinder Chauhan*, 28, works in a major IT company as a web developer in Chandigarh. He met me on his way back from his office, sitting in his rickety red car, lugging his laptop bag and wearing formal office attire. Apart from his darkened eye circles, there was no way you could predict this physically imposing man has been regularly using legal opiates for the past five years.
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In his old Maruti Swift, we drove to the outskirts of Chandigarh to a nearby satellite city that technically comes under the Indian state of Punjab. We were taking a planned stop at a chemist shop. Like a man on a mission, Chauhan popped out of his Maruti Swift in a hurry, only to return five minutes later. “It really is that easy bro! That’s because I’m just buying my herbal medicine, not drugs,” he said, cracking open the branded, sealed bottle of Unani medicine with a proper foiled rim — the ingredients highlighting “Afum,” Afyun, or opium, as a fundamental key ingredient.
Punjab’s affinity to heroin and other opiates is no breaking news. A study published by the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) stated three out of four addicts get hooked to the high even before they turn 21. Opium, although considered an ‘old people’s drug’, is as widely accepted as a daily substance to partake as is cannabis in the rest of India. Its visual evidence can be seen in boys doing it even in the posh urban areas of Punjab.
“Bro, I know I’m taking a standardized dose. Pure afeem will never hurt you like pharmaceuticals or alcohol because it’s natural. Even my father would often take it on a tiring day,” he said as he popped two half-a-finger nail sized pills in his mouth. Chauhan then took large gulps of a Red Bull. This was supposed to make the caffeine in the drink counter the opiate’s drowsy effects — something he claimed provides him an “energy boost without the anxiety.”
Traditionally, opium has been thought of as a working man’s drug. Essentially an analgesic, it powered a tired, exhausted and aching working man (or woman) to go about his/her day and perform their jobs – be it constructing roads, building houses or doing intensive labour in the farm. In today’s times, it is said to help coders stay hyper-focused and keep staring at a computer screen all day.
Unlike cannabis, one can reach the overdose threshold of opium surprisingly easily, that too with just a 400-rupee bottle. Moreover, recovery from addiction is a painfully slow process with the state-run rehabs now brimming with over 1 million addicts, apart from those who have chosen a faith-based healing approach. At the same time, overpopulated hospitals in Punjab are another hampering factor in recovery of the state’s growing addiction population.
Thanks to liberal interpretations of what constitutes a traditional medicine in India (a nation with a dedicated ministry to promote indigenous medicine), classic compositions such as Kamini Vidrawan Ras can be easily made and sold by registered Ayurvedic medicine manufacturers. Kamini Vidrawan Ras is branded as an ‘Indian Viagra’. Apart from pure opium, most such medicines contain sandalwood, nutmeg, cloves, saffron, and other variables depending on the brand.
The FDA might warn of opiates actually causing erectile dysfunction, but users in Punjab argue to the contrary. “Bro, it will literally make your cock so hard you can fuck for hours without cumming. You simply don’t cum!” Chauhan told me, taking me to a world of eternal erections. It was a tempting offer, but risking death and crippling addiction for a harder erection hardly seemed a worthy trade-off for me. But I had to persist in my path for a journalist inquiry.
So I met Abhimanyu Saini*, 28, who always pops a generous amount with a cup of chai before having sex with his long term girlfriend. He thinks of it being a part of their foreplay. “Opium makes repetitive tasks more pleasurable. You just feel everything is heightened and relaxed. Apart from the enhanced joy, there’s no sense of pain, no matter how hard you fuck,” Saini told me, his eyes lighting up like embers, further tempting me to try it at least once. Currently unemployed, he previously worked as a designer for an architecture studio in New Delhi.
Medicines like Kamini Vidrawan Ras do not technically require a prescription by a licensed Ayurvedic doctor. They can be sold without a prescription if the seller has a license. This ‘indigenous medicine’ has long been abused by Indians living abroad and has frequently been warned against by authorities in Australia, with several users reported to be needing rehab.
Despite periodic police raids in India, crackdowns on teenagers purchasing in bulk, and administrative actions targeting Ayurvedic shops, these products can still be found in small stores scattered throughout urban spaces, from Chandigarh to New Delhi, Mumbai to Bhopal.
Saini has been taking opiates since he was seventeen. He has hardly ever faced withdrawal symptoms as his supply is always stocked, the only exception being the COVID lockdown. That’s when he discovered he can dodge the awkward stares of judgmental chemists by simply choosing to get his opium supply from online shopping websites. From leading online retailers like Flipkart and Amazon to online medicine shops like 1mg, a tap on the app can get his opiate fix delivered at home — that too with a discount! None of these websites ask for an age verification, an ID, or a prescription. Saini’s choice for his legal opium kicks is the Unani medicine Barshasha.
Traditionally prescribed as a medicine for acute coughs, cold, chest pains, lack of virility, and digestive ailments, it comes in a sticky black tar paste form, kind of resembling the pure opium paste. It has a pungent earthy, grassy smell and tastes quite bitter despite having a high sugar base. “The trick is to dissolve it in hot chai and wait for it to kick in just fifteen minutes. You’ll start laughing,” Saini said.
But I was afraid. A solitary bottle, if consumed by someone who does not use opioids, can lead to perilous consequences such as profound respiratory inhibition or even loss of life. For a measly 400 rupees, one can get a whole jar, which contains opium purer and more potent than the one found on the street corners of Punjab. Some brands even come with their own opium spoon in the packaging!
Caught between fear and temptation, I decided to take the plunge, if only for the spirit of journalistic research. So, I ordered some of the most popular brands through Flipkart. I was lured by the one for which the user reviews stated: “Get this one, this one really has the kicks!”
Just like any standard e-commerce order in India, the packages were delivered within a few days, no questions asked. My current partner frowned at the idea of me trying this medicine with its so-called sexual enhancement powers. She suggested I use my journalistic research to pleasure myself alone in the washroom instead — my ‘scientific quest’ no match for her strong dislike for such experiments. So, I sought the platonic company of Ravi Thukral*, 28, instead.
As someone who does not indulge in substances beyond an occasional glass of wine on Christmas, and actively dodges even aspirin despite high fever, Ravi still has the curiosity of a teenager to pop anything if it promises an escape from reality. This was also a chance to cure his dust-induced-cough through standardized dosing mentioned on the packaging.
As I questioned his understanding of what technically constitutes a ‘full-spoon dose’, Ravi tried Barshasha from two different brands. ‘Is a spoon full supposed to be heaping?’ I thought. My curiosity to passively live through his experience was disturbed by his intense bouts of laughter.
Ravi, who indulges in bhang frequently, thoroughly embraced his trip and reached for second helpings. His cervical neck pain lingering from weeks immediately vanished on taking the drug, he claimed. He was visibly slowed down in movements and speech, but not to the point of worry. Ravi later claimed he suffered acute constipation the next day, a sign of opiate ingestion.
The next day, Ravi tried Kamini Vidrawan Ras, which makes for a much cleaner, standardized method of ingestion through its pre-made ball shaped pills. The effects were quite pronounced, with him reporting better erections, getting full worth of the 80 mg of opium per pill as per the labelling.
As I saw Ravi laughing hysterically, sipping his tea, with instant improvements in his smoker’s cough, I sent a picture of the label of the medicine to my partner, stating that the medicine promises to “thicken my semen.” I had hoped for a change of heart on her part, but she ghosted my text and left me on read.
*Names have been changed at the request of the subjects.
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