From once merely being on the transit route for drugs as they moved to other parts of the country and event abroad, Meghalaya is now a destination for narcotics as the state is becoming increasingly addicted to illegal drugs.
The state government has apparently taken cognisance of the scale of the problem and the police, especially since LR Bishnoi took over as Director General last year, has been more active in trying to arrest the growth of drug addiction, whether through efforts to cut off supply, rehabilitate those addicted or to spread awareness so that unaffected people never take up the habit in the first place.
From the statistics themselves, the picture is dire.
At a drug-related programme today Bishnoi revealed staggering facts and figures of drug abuse and drug trafficking in the state.
Speaking at the BUILD programme held here, the DGP highlighted that Meghalaya is a very sensitive state from the drug analysts point of view because of several reasons.
For one thing, Meghalaya is close to the notorious Golden Triangle, also called the Devil’s Triangle.
“The Golden Triangle comprises areas of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos and it’s a huge area,” Bishnoi said. Forty times the size of Meghalaya, it is a prime location for the cultivation of opium poppies.
The number of drug users has increased terribly over the years and addiction is not just an urban but also a rural problem. And the problem cuts across gender lines when once it was largely confined to men.
“Once people are in the grip of drug abuse, it can lead to other crimes like domestic violence and traffic incidents,” Bishnoi said.
According to the DGP, there are four to five cases of domestic violence reported to police daily in Shillong and three to four traffic accidents in the city everyday. When the police analyse the reasons, it invariably leads to either drink or drugs.
Drug cases are on the rise, with 183 reported in 2023 compared to 116 in 2020-22. In 2022 there were 234 arrests of suspected drug traffickers but so far this year the figure has jumped to 349.
Scarcely a day goes by without a big drug seizure, with heroin and amphetamines making up a large portion of these.
In 2022 the police seized 7.5kg of heroin but so far this year the figure is more than double at 16.7kg.
“One kilogramme of heroin has the capacity to make 2,000 youths drug users because the dose required is a very small quantity,” Bishnoi said. “If a youth takes three doses of heroin of 150 milligrammes, then his body will become totally dependent on that drug and it’s very difficult to come out of this vicious cycle.”
Seizures of other types of illegal narcotics have also been on the rise. This year 4 tonnes of cannabis has been seized, nearly three times as much as last year (1.4 tonnes). Yaba tablet (a mix of methamphetamine and caffeine) seizures have gone up nearly five-fold from 13,000 tablets in 2022 to 61,000 this year.
Even cough syrup seizures are up dramatically, from 27,000 bottles to 1.5 lakh.
The spread of the drug problem can be seen from the number of police stations that have registered drug crime cases. From 28 police stations last year, this has grown by 50 percent to 42 this year. (Meghalaya has 80 police stations.)
“It means the problem is spreading from urban to rural areas and this is a cause of concern for all of us,” said the DGP.
Meghalaya has stepped up its capabilities somewhat in tackling drugs. In April, Rs 1.5 crore was sanctioned for machinery to test drug samples in state rather than sending samples for testing to other states, as was the practice before, which caused delays in legal proceedings.
The police are not just going after drugs and drug traffickers and dealers but also trying to help at the other end of the spectrum.
Bishnoi said that there are various factors that lead individuals to get involved in drugs, including poor domestic situation, family pressures, lack of awareness, etc. In this vein, the police have organised nearly 1,800 drug awareness programmes throughout the state, the top cop informed.
However, it will probably take years to assess whether this will help get Meghalaya on the right track. In the meantime, there are thousands of lives that could be destroyed by drugs.
