Support of all essential to win war on drugs
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: January 25, 2023 -

COMPLETE eradication of the menace of poppy plantations in some pockets of the hill districts might not be possible considering the fact that there are many rural households dependent on its farming, and only limited viable economic alternatives are available.

However, increasing number of hill communities pledging support to the village 'war on drugs' campaign of the government and the intensive drives to destroy poppy plantations underscore that both the gov-ernment and the majority of the population are determined the win the war.

No doubt, eradication drives would drive up farm-gate prices, which in turn will create stronger in-centives for farmers to continue cultivating opium poppy, and also attract newcomers to the industry.

From the past record, it could be safely stated that forced eradication would not necessary bring about a sustainable re-duction in the cultivation of poppy, as it is a one-time, short-term effort.

In areas where large-scale illegal opium production is ram-pant, holistic economic development is the only viable solution to wean people away from poppy cultivation.

Moreover, there is a school of thought that the law enforcing bodies should not resort to any hasty manner before economic alternatives are implement-ed contrary to the general consensus that smuggling and abusing of psychotropic drugs of different varieties have had ruined many a precious life and the socio-medico problem is getting out of hand with each passing day, especially taking into account that seizure of huge quantities of heroin, brown sugar, World is Yours (WY) tablets, cough syrups and other banned pharmaceutical products at regular is a testimony that the illegal trade is thriving.

As part of the drive against drugs, govern-ment as well as non-governmental organisa-tions have been carrying out awareness pro-grammes at different places but with speakers at these discourses stopping short of taking names of specific communities frequently hogging the limelight owing to arrest with narcotic drugs and on the charge of involve-ment in poppy plantations.

However, similar to the district administrations and police department working to intensify the cam-paign with the pro-active involvement of the local populace, it is heartening to learn that a number of hill district level civil societies and communities are coming out against poppy plantations and pledging support to the ongoing campaign due to the realisation that the problems arising out of poppy planta-tions, substance abuse and illegal drug trade are assuming dangerous proportion.

That the problem has been aggravating with each passing day could be comprehended from the government authorities using choppers and drones to identify poppy plantation sites and even the forest and agriculture minister expressing suspicion some months back about wrongful diversion of urea fertilizer, out of the state's quota that the government had been procuring seasonally for the farmers, for use in illegal poppy plantations.

Moreover, vast area found to be under poppy cultivation implies that the poppy growers couldn't be stopped from getting hold of the required quantity of urea from the open market.

As such bringing on board volunteers of civil societies and convincing the villagers to lend support in the poppy destruction drive will not only lessen workload of the government forces but will also be most effective in tackling the poppy menace.