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Express News Service
GUWAHATI: With drug addiction surpassing the stage of alarm in Arunachal Pradesh, the Himalayan state has launched a war against the menace on multiple fronts.
Amidst a statewide drive against natural and synthetic drugs, the government has decided to go after employees addicted to it. The government will make it mandatory for them to report their drug addiction to senior officers.
“The government will be issuing a notification very soon, asking all employees to report their addiction to drugs, if any, to their senior officers,” Chief Minister Pema Khandu said.
The government will issue a deadline for the same and following its expiry, if any government employee is found addicted to drugs, s/he will face legal actions, he warned.
Official sources said people are addicted to natural as well as synthetic drugs and the addicts include women and minors. Addiction to opium is widespread in the eastern Arunachal districts.
“Drug addiction in Arunachal is above the alarming level. Around 13-15 districts are affected by the menace of synthetic drug addiction. We are all concerned,” Oli Koyu, who is the Nodal Officer of State Anti-Narcotic Bureau, told The New Indian Express on Tuesday.
Locals say the youth, especially from urban areas, are increasingly falling prey to synthetic drugs.
The Arunachalees have been addicted to opium from the British era. If it gives them the kick, it also helps them eke out a living. A section of the opium growers is also its traders.
“A lot of people in the eastern Arunachal districts grow opium to earn a living. We have to give them an alternative livelihood option,” Koyu said.
According to doctors, addiction to opium causes sleeplessness and indigestion besides other neuropsychiatric-related problems.
Basamlu Krisikro, who is an organic tea grower from Wakro in Lohit district of eastern Arunachal, claimed the government’s drive against poppy cultivation was only on paper.
“There is a massive cultivation of poppy in Wakro. I haven’t seen a drive against it. People from diverse fields are involved in it as there is money,” Krisikro, also known as the “Tea Lady” of Arunachal, said.
She inspired 16 poppy growers to take to organic tea plantation. Three of them were opium addicts and she managed to reform two.
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