IMPHAL: Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has announced that there are around 1.3 lakhs of drug addicts in the state which is an alarming proportion.
The alarming rise in the number of drug addictions is based on the latest survey data collected by the Social Welfare Department, Government of Manipur.
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The latest data present that there are around 4.3 per cent of the population in the state are drug addicts.
Manipur has around 30 lakh population as per the latest survey reports.
Earlier, survey data mentions that Manipur has an estimated 30,000 drug addicts.
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Taking matters seriously, the Chief Minister also announced that the state government will increase the number of drug de-addiction centres.
Also read: Drugs worth Rs 4,040 crore seized in past few years in Manipur: CM N Biren Singh
At present, the state government is running its drug de-addiction at Sugnusiphai under the Moirang Assembly constituency.
As a part of the War on Drug 2.0, the government is preparing to increase the number of drug de-addiction centres to five at different locations across the state.
Talking to the media at his office, the Chief Minister said the number of drug addicts among the youth is in alarming proportions.
On June 27, 2022, Chief Minister N Biren Singh inaugurated the Anouba Mangal De-addiction Centre at Sunusiphai, Bishnupur district, the first state-run de-addiction centre in Manipur on the occasion of International Day Against Drug Abuse & Illicit Trafficking, 2022.
Anouba Mangal is the first de-addiction centre in the state which is directly run by the Social Welfare Department, Government of Manipur.
CM Biren Singh expressed the distress of inaugurating de-addiction centres as it shows increasing drug users.
However, due to the requirement of rehabilitation to bring those drug users who went aberrant from society, the de-addiction centre is open, he said.
Biren mentioned the opening of many unregistered rehabilitation centres in the state without following proper guidelines or procedures as to how the inmates should be treated.
As such, the state government felt the need to come up with a government-run de-addiction centre.
In reply to a question posed by a reporter, the CM said, “Drug addicts should not be treated with physical punishment but rather they should be given proper advice” adding that staff had been recruited to look after the centre considering the need to keep trained people for the same.
Poppy plants are used to produce opium, from which drugs such as heroin and morphine are produced.
Manipur has scaled up its war on drugs by going all out against poppy growers in the state.
The Chief Minister launched the war on drugs on November 3, 2018, to fight against the menace of drug abuse
In Manipur scenario, the lists of substance use range from tobacco products such as paan and cigarettes to ganja (marijuana) and alcohol, Opium, Spasmo Proxivon (SP), Methamphetamine (WY), Codeine cough syrup, Pseudo-Epherine among others.