The recent report that Nagaland is used as a conduit route by drug traffickers and that the state law enforcement personnel have registered 427 cases and arrested 560 persons in connection with drugs and liquor related cases within the last 18 months, are of great concern. The records revealed by a senior police officer of an IG rank on the occasion of the International Day against Drug Abuse & Illicit Trafficking at Kohima, admitting that the state does not have adequate expertise nor the will to ‘really search and eliminate the trafficking’, should be enough to send the alarm bells ringing. To top it all, the police officer also disclosed that of late, the drug scene in the state is slowly changing, with the local people slowly and discreetly turning to cultivation of cannabis. This itself is in violation of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 which is enforced throughout the state.
Nagaland has had its share of drug (user) problem during the 1980-90s and had lost its considerable share of young lives to addiction. While health activists say the number of drug users declined during the recent years, they make a rough estimate that there are about 40,000 drug users and more than 16,000 injecting-drug users (IDUs) in the state today. And these figures do not include alcohol users.
Nonetheless, if we take this data and see the scale of the recent drug and alcohol seizures (from January 2016 to date) as per the police: 9711 kg ganja, 63.75 kg opium, 12 grams heroin, 4.5 kg brown sugar, 1 kg Yaba, 527626 spasmo proxyvon capsules, 8484 nitrosen tablets, 12297 bottles of cough syrup and 202919 bottles IMFL; the question that looms is whether the seized contraband was meant for users in the state or were they caught in-transit to somewhere outside of the state.
There is also the concern on cultivation, particularly cannabis. The plant is considered to be economically lucrative with minimum maintenance required as the state has favourable soil and climate and yields good harvest; there is high demand in the market especially outside the state.
Law enforcers are apprehensive that there is a huge danger in the indifferent attitude of the people- the ‘lack of shock’ in learning of such crops being grown and trafficked in the state. This needs to be taken seriously by all sections of the society. Currently, it may just be cultivation and trafficking to make money, but usage and addiction by our own youths and even by the cultivators will gradually follow.
As the senior cop had rightly pointed out, the onus on all concerned lie not just to undertake preventive work by apprehending drug traffickers but also to sensitize the masses against the effects of drug abuse, highlight the extent of drug usage and trafficking and project the changing drug scenario taking place in the state.
Also, Nagaland being close in proximity with the Golden Triangle of the drug world, especially with it sharing borders with Myanmar, law enforcement agencies see the state as a prime conduit route for traffickers. Conventionally, the Golden Triangle is a region between the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand.
And with the Government of India looking to boost foreign trade by building economic corridors in its northeast region with neighbouring South East Asian nations through the Act East Policy, there is this undeniable uneasiness that this could also open ways for illicit drugs to easily ride the new access routes of greater connectivity.
Despite the law in place in the state such as the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition (NLTP) Act 1989 and NDPS Act 1985 and the Drug & Cosmetic Act 1940, prevention of use and trafficking drugs and alcohol appear to have so far seen only a partial success, if not failure.
An effective drug control mechanism that can guarantee trafficking is kept to the minimum, is the need of the hour. Considering the serious ramifications of drug usage and trafficking, it is time for the state government to pay much more attention to the problem and formulate robust measures to overcome the loopholes in its existing strategies.
