Comprehensive De-Addiction: Breaking the Chains of Tobacco, Alcohol, and Substance Abuse in Kota
The Substance Crisis Inside India's Most Pressurised Student City — And the Real Path Out "I started with one cigarette after every mock test. Within four months, I was smoking a pack a day. I told myself it was stress relief. My psychiatrist told me it was the stress itself — just wearing a different coat." — 20-year-old JEE aspirant, Kota, now 14 months tobacco-free There is a conversation that happens in every Kota hostel corridor, every coaching institute stairwell, every chai shop within walking distance of Allen and Resonance and FIITJEE, and it goes something like this: "Ek aur lega? Exam ke baad chhod denge." One more. We'll quit after the exam. It is one of the most repeated sentences in Kota — and one of the most expensive promises young people make to themselves. Because the exam comes. And then the next exam. And the substance that started as a reward becomes a ritual, the ritual becomes a dependency, and the dependen...