Nagaland battles 1.2 lakh drug users as north-east states unite against narcotics threat

A regional anti-narcotics conference in Chumoukedima on November 13 has laid bare the scale of the drug crisis gripping India's north-eastern states, with Nagaland alone reporting an estimated 120,000 users of heroin known locally as 'shaanflower'.

The two-day gathering of Anti-Narcotics Task Force heads from north-eastern states, Sikkim and West Bengal, at the Police Complex revealed how the region's 1,643-kilometre porous border with Myanmar and its proximity to the Golden Triangle have made it extremely vulnerable to drug trafficking.

Nagaland's Director General of Police Rupin Sharma told delegates that drug trafficking had evolved beyond a law-and-order problem into a direct threat to internal security and youth welfare. The drugs and money flowing through these routes feed organise