Aizawl: Mizoram, grappling with one of the worst drug addiction crises in the Northeast, currently has 48 centres and homes providing care and rehabilitation services to 5,224 people, officials said on Sunday. The figures, shared by the state Social Welfare department, underline the enormity of the challenge in the small border state, where drug abuse has emerged as a major public health and social concern despite decades of intervention by the government, church and civil society organisations.
The state government has provided Rs 42 lakh as financial assistance to these centres and homes during the current financial year. Officials said the assistance is part of the ongoing support to strengthen de-addiction infrastructure across all 11 districts.
In addition, 2,255 people have been admitted for treatment at the ‘Hulhliap’ short-stay detoxification centre since its launch in June last year, with nine batches completed so far. The government has spent over Rs 3.86 crore on the nine batches, while the centre has also received assistance amounting to Rs 1.34 lakh from other sources.
The short-stay centre was opened on June 23 last year at the Synod Revival camping centre at Neihbawi near Aizawl. It is designed to accommodate about 200 inmates at a time. According to officials, inmates are initially given detoxification treatment for 15 days by doctors, nurses and counsellors, after which they undergo special spiritual counselling. After completion of their stay, they are either sent back to their relatives or referred to a rehabilitation centre for long-term care.
The extensive rehabilitation network highlights the scale of the crisis in a state with a population of just 12 lakh, where heroin and methamphetamine abuse has devastated many families.
Mizoram shares a 510-km long unfenced border with Myanmar, making it highly vulnerable to cross-border drug trafficking. The state lies on the main transit route for narcotics entering India from Myanmar, Laos and Thailand — the region infamously known as the Golden Triangle. Drugs, particularly heroin, meth tablets and other highly addictive synthetic drugs, are smuggled through Mizoram’s porous border and then trafficked to other parts of India.
Due to its proximity to this trafficking corridor, Mizoram has one of the highest rates of drug consumption among youths in the country. Officials and health workers have repeatedly flagged that a large number of young people are falling prey to substance abuse, leading to serious health, social and law-and-order challenges. The state government, along with church bodies like the Mizoram Presbyterian Church Synod, has been intensifying awareness and de-addiction programmes to curb the menace.
