Even as many more are yet to be taken up to fight the menace of drugs in the state, Chief Minister N. Biren Singh had successfully made all people of the state irrespective of the differences in the community join in the war against drugs. Every community of the state today have openly declared support for the Chief Minister’s initiative and pledge to fight against the drugs.
The participation of all people of the state against the menace of drugs is seen for the second time in the history of Manipur. In the mid-1980s the state witnessed a mass uprising against drug users and smugglers after a child was allegedly murdered by a user here in the state. Unlike that time, the Chief Minister of Manipur personally takes initiative in making all the people join in the war against drugs.
If one recounts the sequence of events that took place in the mid-1980s in the aftermath of the murder of a child at Singjamei by a drug user, it will be easy to understand how effective the war on drugs was those days. Almost every club member of all communities started hunting for drug users and punished them. Even some underground groups also punished those drug users including alcoholics by shooting at their legs. However, punishing the drug users in front of the public or by physically assaulting them fails to minimize the number of drug users those days. After some experts found that punishing the users by physically assaulting them is not the solution, it was learned that the lack of a well-prepared strategy to fight the drug menace was the main reason for the collective struggle of that time.
The reason for reminding the sequence of events that took place in the mid-1980s was to convey a simple suggestion to the CMs initiative to the fight against drugs. It is a fact that every community has extended support to the CM’s war on drugs. When there is support for a good cause then the war is half won. If wanted to win this war then some more policies need to be framed. A policy for rehabilitation of the drug users should be a priority. And next, improvement of the socio-economic conditions of the people is also another factor. As the users now have been concentrated among the youths and the school-going children the authority in power needs to monitor the conditions of students in all government schools. Above these, the authority needs to be sincere in punishing the drug smugglers without bias.
