Rupin Sharma, IPS
In the past few months, I haven’t come across anyone in Nagaland who hasn’t come across an ‘addict’ Anecdotal evidence on drug use, drug abuse and drug peddling in Nagaland and its dimensions is alarming. Even by conservative estimates, the sample of drug users present in the jails in Nagaland is disturbing – about 20-25% of the inmates in the jails in Nagaland. While a smaller number of inmates are under detention for criminal cases where they are themselves involved as users or peddlers, a greater proportion are in jails for other offences – petty thefts, extortion, non-return of loans or even on account of engaging in fights with others. Some of the cases are real cases while in some others, the family members foist false cases against their near and dear ones just to get rid of them – virtually disowning them while they are in the jails. Jails provide a relatively safe environment for the user-addicts where their access to drugs is cut off to a large measure.
While the primary, short-term objective of the guardians would probably be to deprive the users of the drugs, however, the incidental gains include avoid getting a bad name in the society or stigma, avoid theft of property at home or of other neighbours, or even not having to incur expenditure on food and clothing etc. Jails as centres of de-addiction or rehabilitation is not an immediate expectation.
Under these circumstances, the addicts are virtually disowned and even with some of our jails not having adequate medical and health facilities, withdrawal symptoms are not uncommon. Except where there is a coordinated effort, the addicts in the jails remain unattended. Some NGOs do try to help but the efforts are sporadic at best.
However, if the proportion of addicts in the jails in Nagaland is any indicator and is a mirror to what is going on in the society, the situation is alarming.
While a projection based on jail demographics could be misleading, my informal interactions with sources, student leaders, women associations and even some addicts indicate that the situation deserves an immediate intervention. Interactions reveal that on an average, a drug user consumes about one gram of drug per day, with the severely addicted ones doing 4-5 doses per day too. A drug user spends anything between two thousand rupees to five thousand rupees per day on drugs.
The average number of ‘opiod’ drug users in Nagaland is about 20000 – 10% of the population as per the Government of India’s report - which is likely to be a conservative estimate. As per this estimate, the drug consumption is massive. It means that on lower scale of consumption, almost 20 Kg of heroin/smack is sold every day in Nagaland. This works out to about 600 kilograms per month or at least 7200 kilograms per year – almost 3-times the seizure at the Mundra Port a couple of months back. Mind you, the estimates I am projecting by way of number of users and per capita consumption are on a lower side. I am not even factoring in sedatives or medico-legal drugs or inhalers or cannabis or even opium or ‘kani’.
Without going into any specifics, the average seizures of drugs in Nagaland are, at best near the three-figure mark. Needless to say, bulk of these come from Myanmar – the processed ‘opiods’ through Manipur route while the unprocessed ‘kani’ travels through the almost all across the porous border.
The informal mechanisms of handling ‘drug-trafficking’ and traffickers are a major stumbling block in combating the menace. There are innumerable instances where either the drugs consumers/addicts or peddlers or carriers/couriers are intercepted by the civil society groups at various levels. In majority of cases, the civil society groups just ‘confiscate/seize’ the drugs informally and destroy them although the cases of some of these being resold may not be unheard off too. In most such cases, the users/addicts are intercepted and after being deprived of the consignments, they are merely let-off after imposing fines (actually, illegal extortion in legal terms) on the users or peddlers. The Civil Society and NGOs at various levels are not just stakeholders but partners. However, the partnerships must be formalised with clear-cut roles and parameters defined for effectively combating the menace. The linkages and roles need better definition. A realisation has to dawn on everyone that informal and loose mechanisms have caused more hurt than healing.
While some of these genuine efforts are to be applauded, others burn holes in the system- the informal starts overriding the formal, the informal does not coordinate with the formal, the informal starts exceeding its limits and irregularity starts becoming the norm as opposed to legally backed action. With instances of drug trafficking and consumption being handled informally, the State is not in a position to acknowledge the severity of the problem and address it. Since the matters are handled informally, there is an absolute lack of follow-up or coordination in investigation – civil society and NGOs are neither legally empowered to do so, nor do they have the wherewithal to handle all this. Resultantly the efforts remain confined to pockets and the links between traffickers/peddlers and users cannot be busted. The demand-chain and supply-chain remain intact, and the menace continues to grow.
Sometimes, even when the users are and small-time peddlers are intercepted and brought to the police station, the follow-up action by the police does not enthuse the classical theorists. Instances where the police do not register FIR or investigate have also been cited by sources. Police sometimes do not even make GD entries although they should be registering FIRs. This non-registration and non-action by police further emboldens the ‘users’ as well as the peddlers and the authority of the law and the police erodes. Police stations start getting looked at as centres of compromise and bargain rather than law-enforcement. In some cases, the chances of police becoming complicit also take start taking root.
The non-registration of reports of peddling/trafficking by police should be handled with a heavy hand and disciplinary action initiated. Creating public awareness about the process of registration of complaints with police would help. As a starter, public submitting reports about trafficking and traffickers or consumers to police should insist that ‘GD Entries’ should be made and ‘copies handed over to complainants or people making the reports. These will help in better follow-up by the supervisors as well as by the public. Loose-paper complaints should be discouraged. Senior police officers would also do well to evolve mechanisms where the identities of ‘sources’ and ‘informers’ should be compiled, yet secrecy maintained.
It may be worthwhile setting up anti-narcotics cells in the DEFs to counter the menace. These district cells could be tasked with supervision of other narcotics related cases within their respective districts, ‘taking-over’ important cases and coordinating with the ‘cells’ in the other districts. The State level narcotics cell should actively start investigating cases having inter-State ramifications including tying-up with their counterparts and the Narcotics Control Bureau.
Since most opiods are entering Nagaland from neighbouring States or Myanmar, investigating the inter-State linkages is an imperative requisite.
Meanwhile, the department of Health and family welfare should also look at the possibility of enhancing its capabilities for rehabilitation and treatment of the addicts. I had the occasion to address this issue at the recent inauguration of the Longleng Jail because an overwhelming majority of the inmates likely to be housed in Longleng are addicts/peddlers, too.
The Assam Police has launched a massive effort to combat drugs trafficking and consumption. Links back to Nagaland and Manipur – wholesalers, suppliers, storage agents and traffickers abound in the area. With an estimated 7200 kilograms of consumption per annum in Nagaland and perhaps an equal quantity in Manipur and Assam (due to its large population), the impact on the health of an entire generation is on the guillotine. In monetary terms, the total outflow is almost 5000 Crores per annum (@60 lakh rupees per Kg), which is humungous. Besides the numbers who could perish bringing untold misery to the families and near and dear ones, the impact on the social fabric, the financial stability of the state due to hard-earned money going to traffickers and the additional stress which the health systems will come under in due course and the individuals and even on law and order could be immense.
While solutions to other things can wait, one for this can’t. Health is wealth.
We need to intercede NOW!
A concerted strategy is required. NOW!
