There are around 3 lakh drug users in Assam, of which Guwahati alone bears the brunt of 70,000 of these users. Moreover, 10% of them are drug peddlers as well.

This was revealed in a report published at a popular daily of the state recently.

According to the report, since January 2021, nearly 2000 people have been arrested in the state and around 1000 cases have been registered so far.

It may be mentioned here that 455 cases of illicit drug trade were registered in 2018, 826 in 2019, while 980 in 2020.

Similarly, 694 people were arrested in 2018, 1,226 in 2018, 1,226 in 2019 and 1,652 in 2020.

In May 2021, heroines, cannabis, syrups and other narcotics substances have been seized from more than 500 people, allegedly involved in the trade.

The Times Of India quoting the chief functionary of state-level coordinating agency for Assam and Meghalaya Dr Sondeep Hanse reported that drug prevention and rehabilitation works are totally dependent on the Centre’s Grant.

Recently, the groundwork for the establishment of the Northeast first de-addiction centre for youths was opened up in Meghalaya.

A report titled, “Magnitude of Substance Use in India” sponsored by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, submitted by the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC) of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi in February 2019 unveiled a shocking fact on Northeast India

It stated that half of the total drug abusers come from the states of Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim including some other Indian states. Moreover, the rise in the rates of drug users in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Tripura was also witnessed.

Similarly, a report titled “Women who use drugs in Northeast India” published in 2015 by United Nations Office on Drugs and

Crime, Regional Office for South Asia (UNODC), authored by Dr  M Suresh Kumar, Archana Oinam, Debashis Mukherjee, Kunal Kishore & Dr Alpna Mittal sheds light on the number of cases prevailing from the northeast.

Among the participants of the study, almost 41% have admitted to ever having injected substances. Injecting is more prevalent in the high HIV burden states of Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland.