Manipur Users Collective petitions PM, INDIA bloc
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, July 31 2023: The Manipur Users Collective (MUC) submitted a memorandum to the 21-member MP team of the opposition bloc Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) on Sunday during the latter's two-day state visit.

The memorandum urged for highlighting drug-related issues in India in general and Manipur in particular in the ongoing Parliament session and further pave the way towards reduction of drug supply through prevention of illegal poppy cultivation and opium production and its resultant impact to Manipur and other parts of India.

In a release, MUC said that a copy of the memorandum was also handed over to the chief minister N Biren in addition to sending the same to the Prime Minister's Office, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, MP Shashi Tharoor, MP Mahua Moitra, and chief ministers of Punjab, Delhi and Meghalaya via email.

MUC is a common platform for drug users community established to address the myriad issues faced by the community in all relevant state, national and global forums for ensuring that a mechanism is in place for effective representation and disseminating information and knowledge received from such forums towards betterment of the community.

The MUC memorandum pointed out contemporary issues including conflict among communities, environmental impacts, public health concerns, growing influence of unlawful elements to the extent of external interferences, etc., are manifestations of drug problem that has gone out of control.

The government of India should take certain actions to prevent the prevailing drug-related humanitarian crisis in the region, it stressed and further urged the centre to develop robust border security measure in order to check influx of foreign nationals and narcotic drugs from across the border and to conduct a comprehensive study on the overall impact of easy availability of drugs and illegal poppy cultivation in the state by conducting an opium/heroin production survey and mapping out areas under poppy cultivation taking into account its impact in Manipur and other parts of the country.

It also pointed out the need to take up immediate measures to eradicate illegal poppy plantation, stricter regulation and control of petrochemical products such as Acetic Anhydrous, Pseudoephedrine which are used as precursors for heroin and Amphetamine Type Stimulants (ATS) production and supply chain system of chemical fertilizers and/or implementation of stringent laws for curbing its supply and utilization as well as to check the flow of the same within arid beyond the border.

The MUC urged competent authorities to investigate the role of militants, village chiefs, legislators, bureaucrats and security forces in opium/heroin production and trafficking and also to monitor and investigate financial transactions/assets of the aforementioned by engaging relevant agencies.

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