Sukhwant Kumar wanted to run away. The pale walls of the Swami Vivekanand Drug De-Addiction and Treatment Center in Amritsar, a city in the northern Indian state of Punjab, were closing in. He felt scrutinized and threatened by people wearing lab coats. The ceiling fan seemed as though it could crash on him at any moment.
The 30-year-old, who had worked odd jobs at a restaurant and a car rental, once hoped to start his own taxi service. That was three years ago, before his wife and children had left him — before he became addicted to heroin.
“I am possessed by heroin. It is a ghost within me,” Kumar told VICE News. “Sometimes I cannot recognize myself.”