Written by: Rafiqul Islam
On September 26, Barpeta is expected to become the focal point of Assam’s wider campaign against drug abuse, with Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya scheduled to launch the Barpeta leg of the statewide campaign. The campaign is being taken to 10 districts as part of the Nasha Mukt Bharat Sankalp Padayatra.
It will be a moment of celebration. The administration will have seizures and enforcement actions to highlight. Recently, authorities reportedly destroyed narcotics worth around Rs 5.16 crore, including 58,217 Yaba tablets, 133 kg of ganja and more than a kilogram of heroin. Such action deserves recognition. But celebration and correction are not the same thing.
The real test is whether September 26 marks the beginning of a stronger, sustained drive or is treated as the conclusion of the campaign. A new label does not change Barpeta’s geography. Its rivers, chars, waterways, agricultural fields and rural roads will remain, as will the vulnerabilities that allow drugs to enter and circulate.
The same institutions and administrative machinery will have to prevent the trade from returning. That is why September 26 should be viewed less as a victory ceremony and more as a commitment to permanent vigilance.
Celebration is at the end of the chain
Much of the visible drug war happens at the end of the chain: the user is arrested, the small peddler is caught and a consignment is seized. The larger supply network is far less visible. Yet drugs do not appear in the hands of users by themselves. They reach local markets through suppliers, transporters, financiers, storage points and intermediaries. If enforcement concentrates mainly on those at the bottom of the chain, the market can simply reproduce itself.
A peddler can be replaced, a route can be changed and a consignment can be moved through another channel. The real challenge is to make the supply chain itself increasingly difficult to operate through intelligence gathering, surveillance, inter-agency coordination, action against repeat offenders and investigation into the financial interests behind the trade.
Community cannot remain outside system
A raid is an event. Vigilance has to be a system. That system will not work without the community. People living in villages and chars often know their communities better than outside agencies. They know where young people gather, which routes are being used and which families are struggling with addiction.
But they will share what they know only when they trust the administration. If every interaction between citizens and the state is reduced to policing, suspicion and legal proceedings, that trust will remain weak. The administration and the community need a relationship that extends beyond the police station.
Teachers, youth groups, women’s groups, community and religious leaders, health workers, local organisations and parents should have meaningful channels to raise concerns and seek help. The community should not be treated merely as an informer network; it should be a partner in prevention. This is particularly important in Barpeta’s riverine areas, where the administration cannot maintain a physical presence everywhere.
The Assembly has a role too
The drug problem has also entered the political and legislative space. MLA Jakir Hussain Sikdar, representing Pakabetbari, has raised the issue of a “Drug-Free Assam” in the Assam Legislative Assembly, calling attention to the continuing problem of narcotics and the need for stronger, coordinated action. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has also spoken in the Assembly about enforcement against trafficking and the need to tackle supply networks.
That legislative role matters because a drug-free district cannot be sustained by the police alone. The Assembly can demand accountability from the health, social welfare, education, youth development and law-enforcement departments, while also monitoring rehabilitation and what happens after arrests. Raising the issue in the House is important. Ensuring follow-through is equally important.
248-case warning
The judicial system offers another reason for caution. According to the source material, 248 active cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act are pending before the District and Sessions Judge Court in Barpeta. The state has moved towards establishing Exclusive Special NDPS Courts, including one for Barpeta.
But a special court can function effectively only when investigations, forensic examinations and prosecutions move with reasonable speed. A senior advocate practising at the Barpeta Bar, speaking anonymously, pointed to delays in forensic reports. “Forensic delays can keep cases waiting for months,” he said.
The concern is significant because drug networks can adapt faster than the justice system. If a courier is arrested today, the network can find another tomorrow. Enforcement must therefore look beyond the number of arrests and increasingly identify the people and structures that make the trade possible.
The user also needs recovery
The person at the end of the supply chain is not necessarily just an offender; in many cases, that person is also trapped in addiction. The source material identifies those aged 16–25 as a major consumer group, with people in the 26–40 age group also involved in peddling. Addiction cannot be addressed through punishment alone.
A person recovering from drug dependence may return to the same environment after release. Without treatment, counselling, family support and livelihood opportunities, the cycle can begin again. A serious drug-control campaign therefore needs two simultaneous approaches: stronger action against the supply chain and greater support for people seeking recovery.
HIV question cannot remain invisible
The most sensitive part of the drug crisis is also one of the least visible. HIV data involving individuals and vulnerable populations are confidential, and that confidentiality must be protected. But protecting identities is different from failing to acknowledge the scale of a public-health problem.
There are unverified reports suggesting that HIV exposure may be widespread among injecting drug users in some affected communities. Such reports are serious enough to warrant careful investigation by public-health authorities. The objective should be to ensure that authorities have enough reliable information to understand the problem and respond effectively without exposing anyone’s identity. There is also a deeply troubling rehabilitation issue.
I am aware of a case in which a drug user living with HIV was reportedly denied rehabilitation by a centre supported through the Social Welfare system. If people living with HIV are being excluded from rehabilitation services, that raises serious questions about whether the system is creating an additional barrier to recovery. Drug dependence and HIV require coordinated medical, public-health and rehabilitation support.
A declaration should raise the bar
The Rs 5.16-crore drug disposal operation and other enforcement measures demonstrate that the administration is taking action. But the declaration on September 26 should not lower the level of vigilance. The same geography will remain. The same potential routes will remain. Demand will not disappear overnight, and a supply network built over time will not collapse because of a single enforcement campaign.
The declaration should therefore be followed by a more rigorous phase of administration: active police intelligence, monitoring of vulnerable routes, investigation of supply networks and financial links, faster NDPS trials, stronger rehabilitation and sustained HIV prevention and treatment. Above all, the community must remain part of the process. The relationship between the administration and citizens has to move beyond the narrow language of policing and law.
Real test begins after the declaration
A declaration can be made in an afternoon. A drug network can adapt overnight. That is why September 26 should not be the end of Barpeta’s drug-control campaign. It should be the beginning of a much harder task: staying vigilant after the celebration is over. The real measure of success will come months and years later—in fewer young people becoming addicted, stronger disruption of supply networks, quicker justice, better rehabilitation and deeper community participation.
Barpeta does not need only a “Drug-Free District” label. It needs a system that remains awake after the label is announced. The celebration may happen at the end of the drug chain. The correction must begin at the beginning of the chain.
Rafiqul Islam is a child rights and protection worker with over a decade of experience in child protection, child marriage prevention, community mobilisation and development programmes in Assam. His work spans adolescent empowerment, disaster resilience, riverbank erosion, women and children’s rights, and grassroots advocacy.