Ethno-drug cauldron

Reports from across north east India paint a very bleak picture that North east India could face a huge social, political, economic and security crisis in the coming decades, as several thousand drug users , some of who are as young as medium primary school students, become a growing nightmare in the region. Impure drugs(crudely refined) from Myanmar are packed in sachets and sold cheap at affordable prices to remain within the reach of school going children. In Nagaland, the districts bordering Myanmar are witnessing an ever growing number of young children who are getting hooked to drugs. Unfortunately, states like Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur in particular are happy hunting grounds for drug peddlers, and the substance abuse population here is 20 percent higher than other states of India. How drug trade has gone beyond the bounds of criminal traffickers may be understood from the fact that in February 2013, a public relations officer of the Indian Army was caught with 24 crore worth of narcotic drugs consignment in Manipur. Others nabbed included members of a private airline and a family member of a former home minister of Manipur. Drug mafias or drug kingpins have developed a strong network in Manipur and Myanmar to smuggle poppy out to Golden Triangle and vice versa. The massive growth of illegal poppies in remote areas of Ukhrul, Senapati, Kangpokpi, Kamjong, Churachanpur and Tengnoupal districts of Manipur , with massive investments by drug mafias has resulted in urea shortage in the state. To control the same, the Manipur Narcotics and Affairs of Border (NAB) department reported that 963 drug traffickers, including 768 men and 195 women, were detained between April 27 and June 2019 under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. To uproot such detrimental threats from the soil, the state government launched campaigns such as ‘Nisha Thadoklasi’ and ‘War on Drugs in 2018. Under this campaign, the Chief Minister of Manipur, Shri Nongthombam Biren, vowed to destroy illegal poppy cultivation in hill regions, curtailing its distribution and trade using coercive and non-coercive methods. However, the confiscation of drugs, a total of 44.5 Kg of ‘World is Yours (WY) tablets, aka ‘party drugs’ worth Rs 9 crores and another few Kg of WY tablets of Rs 5 crores in May and August 2022, respectively in Tengnoupal district of Manipur, bordering Myanmar exemplified that it is an issue that needs serious actions. In July 2020, at the time of the height of coronavirus pandemic, a Manipur woman police officer accused Manipur’s Chief Minister of helping a drug trafficker to get bail. The drug trafficker has been allegedly linked with the current ruling party in Manipur. Many politicians have also been accused of being allegedly involved with drug trade. Drug trade in Manipur is a huge multi-billion dollar trade and with it comes the involvement of armed mafias including militant groups, politicians and corrupt police and security personnel. This is also one facet of the current Manipur crisis which incidentally was supposed to be the reason for sparking the upheaval.