Nearly 50% of Konyaks in Mon still consume opium
Source: Oken Jeet Sandham (NEPS) *
Kohima, June 23 2013:
The Konyaks living in Mon district of Nagaland were victims of opium for generations.
Till today almost 50% of them consume this harmful substance.
The British was responsible for providing opium to the Konyaks when the former was here.
Earlier massive opium cultivation was going on in Mon district but nowadays no more cultivation was there in the district.
In the past, Konyak student leaders tried their best to wipe out opium from their soil.
They even went to the extent of cutting down opium plantations in massive scales.
"The Konyak Students' Union (KSU) has been making all-out efforts through various awareness campaigns and seminars from village to village to discourage opium consumption and cultivation," KSU President Methna Konyak told NEPS here Sunday.
"At times, we have to use tactical force to stop our people from any attempt to re-cultivate of opium in our district" .
He, however, admitted that still almost 50% of their people were consuming opium.
"These opium substances are coming from across the Myanmar border where opium cultivation is still rampant," the KSU President said.
"We are helpless as there is no mechanism to check such supply in the border areas" .
Konyak also revealed that when the British were here, they gave licenses to many of them to sell opium.
These unusual despicable methods applied to their innocent people were largely responsible for their "abject backwardness" .
"The British were held responsible for this," he said.
"Interestingly, nobody knew as to why they had to target the Konyaks" .
"One of the painful things is we are still in the deep slumber and our younger generations are still bearing the brunt of these acts as the parents cannot support them because of the consumption of opium," the KSU President explained.
"That is why many of them started leaving their homes to become laborers in many places" .
The student leader further stated that they were going to observe "International Day Against Drug and Illicit Trafficking" on June 26 at Mon to reiterate their stand to completely wipe out opium from their areas.
* The sender of this news can be contacted at nepsonline(at)yahoo(dot)com .