Call for drug free society rung out
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, June 26 2019:
Manipur State Legal Services Authority and Nirvana Foundation observed International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking at Hotel Yaiphaba today.
The event, which was organised under the theme 'Health for justice, Justice for Health', was attended by NAB Manipur SP Watham Basu, Nirvana Foundation secretary Sobhana Sorokhaibam, District Legal Services Authority Imphal West secretary Khwairakpam Nirojit and Manipur State AIDS Control Society (MACS) Joint Director Abhiram Mongjam as the chief guest, president and guests of honour respectively.
Speaking at the event, Abhiram Mongjam said that the problem of drug abuse has become so rampant in the State that nowadays, there have been even cases of youth, just 15-16 years old, being brought to hospital due to drug overdose.
Drug abuse is the most critical issue today, he added.
He continued that out of the total 21 Integrated Rehabilitation Centre for Drug Addicts, only 2 are for women and explained that there are a total of 3 such centres for women in the whole country.
This shows the high level of drug abusers even amongst women, he added.
Drug abuse and drug related crimes have been on the rise in Manipur since the 1980s, he said adding that the most important factor for the rampant drug use is the easy availability of the drugs in the State, which is proved by the recent seizure of around Rs 1.50 crore worth of WY tablets by NAB and Imphal Eat police.
Last year, just only the Assam Rifles was able to seize around Rs 34.45 crore worth of WY tablets, Rs 8.70 crore worth of brown sugar and Rs 16.10 crore worth of heroin along the Imphal-Moreh route.
Similar cases are also present along the Imphal-Jiribam route as well as in Churachandpur.
All these instances show that drugs worth more than Rs 50 crore are trafficked in the State in a year, which is more than the budget given by the State Government to MACS.
On the other hand, Manipur has around 23,000 individuals, who are HIV positive and have been enrolled at ART Centres, he said.
Abhiram continued that even though the spread of HIV among Injecting Drug Users has decreased, the number of youth abusing drugs is on the rise and added that this requires proper collaboration between MACS, police, Social Welfare Department, YAS and Health as well as various CBOs and people.
NAB SP W Basu said that drug abuse not only impacts on the user but also his or her family and the society at large.
Drug abuse also adversely impacts the economy.
For example, Manipur has around 20,000 IDUs and if it is calculated that they use around 200 mg of drugs per day, it will cost around Rs 80 lakh in total, he explained adding that the figure will translate to a loss of around Rs 24 crore per month and Rs 288 crore per year.
As such, it is imperative for all to work together towards eliminating this menace, he added.