Residents of Tizit in Nagaland are losing the battle against drugs

Nagaland is not just Dimapur and Kohima, as some have been made to believe. Sure, we just wrapped up the Hornbill Festival, but remember the tribes that did not participate?

Travel beyond the festival, and you witness the devastation drugs have caused and the absolute apathy shown by authorities. That, in turn, explains why many in the state want a separate state called Frontier Nagaland. A visit to Tizit in Mon district shows why it is time Nagaland authorities fight the drug menace on a war footing.

“My life is destroyed. There is no meaning to anything that I do. I don’t have a wife or children. I don’t do anything and don’t have any work to do. My family has been affected because of my addiction,” said 41-year-old Saddie Konyak (name changed), a resident of Tizit.

Also read | From Assam to Gujarat: 24 years on, will the East-West corridor ever be ready?

To reach Tizit from the state capital, one has to travel via Assam before making it to the border area. A gate manned by Nagaland Police divides Tizit, home to about 29,601 people, from Namtola in Assam. Needless to say, the two states share a very porous border.

Despite the state-wide war on drugs, the menace of drug addiction is spreading fast in Nagaland, especially along its border areas. Along the Nagaland-Assam border, this menace has become ‘uncontrollable’.

Saddie was 16 years old when he was introduced to drugs through his friends. Little did young Saddie know back then, that his life would overturn due to his dependence on drugs.

“Without knowing the good or bad, I began to take drugs. Once I started, there was no stopping me, even after I realised it was taking a toll on me—physically and mentally. My family has been affected. I can’t even look after my mother because of my addiction,” rues Saddie.

His siblings have married and settled elsewhere with their mother, so Saddie lives alone at their family house in Tizit. He maintains a vegetable garden and depends on tenants and his father’s pension for survival.

“I don’t feel like eating as I don’t feel hungry. What I am usually concerned about is the constant need to take drugs. I tried to stop my dependence on drugs several times—sometimes for about a year or even seven to eight months. But I relapse. I started with opium, then injected, and now I’ve switched to oral use,” he shared.

Like him, 40-year-old Nathan Konyak (Name changed) was introduced to drugs at a young age under peer pressure. “We were daily wage earners who worked as woodcutters. My friends recommended oral drug use as a treatment for pain relief. It did relieve my physical body. At first, I took it every month. Then, it became weekly and soon, I was addicted. So I began to buy it on my own as my flesh and blood developed the need for it,” he told us.

Also read | For Zo refugees fleeing Bangladesh, BSF beating, ‘Mizoram is only hope’

Fortunately for Nathan, he registered with one NGO for Targeted intervention (TI) and even landed a job with the NGO. Since last year, he has been under Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) at the Tizit Community Health Centre (CHC).

“At a time when society rejected drug users, I felt accepted. Although I have not recovered, I have improved physically and mentally. Earlier, I could not concentrate on one place for a second. I would be so restless. There was a time when even if people called me for work, I had a fear of getting beaten up or that I may have to pay a fine. But now, I have become calm and can face society without any fear,” he said.

Nathan is among 150 drug users receiving OST treatment. There are over 700 drug users registered with Turning Point Organization, an NGO affiliated with Nagaland State Aids Control Society (NSACS) at Tizit, for Targeted Intervention (TI).

A harmless introduction, a deadly habit

Saddie and Nathan shared that the drugs they consumed were availed of from the other side of the border. Their experiences were backed by Sanjoy Sinha, a health activist with the Turning Point Organization who also shared how the drug menace is uncontrollable at the interstate border.

“Here in the Tizit area, the rate of drug users is high because we are bordering Assam with many in the age group 25-30 years. This is the entry point for Mon district—where all good and bad entries are made. We can’t stop anything, even drugs. No matter how much we try, drug use cannot be controlled. The number of drug users only keeps rising daily,” he informed EastMojo.

Also read | Neither dead nor alive: Life of one that ‘survived’ the Oting massacre

In 2009, when the organisation came into existence, the target for intervention was 150 drug users under Tizit block and Naginimora in a year. At present, there are over 700 users registered with the organisation, Sinha added. 

Annually, over 20-30 cases get registered, but the trend changed after the COVID-19 pandemic. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number became very high as the border was closed and drug availability was short. So that was when hidden users began to emerge as they started to share. Women Injecting Drug users (IDUs) who were hitherto hidden, also showed up. Fourteen women IDUs are registered with us now,” he said.

At the Community Health Centre (CHC) Tizit, more than 200 patients, including one female IDU, from over 15 villages under the Tizit block are receiving OST treatment, with most patients over the age of 35.

Also read | Is Nagaland becoming a haven for women entrepreneurs? 

“The recovery rate is low. It has only been two years since we started, but the COVID-19 pandemic affected our services. But over the years, we have learnt that more than the majority of the households here have drug users. So, we are trying our best to register as many as we can,” observed Chichanthung Tsopoe, data manager at CHC Tizit.

A police officer, on condition of anonymity, informed that drug abuse along the Nagaland-Assam border is a casual affair. The officer informed me that most drug users move to the other side of the border to consume drugs and that it was impossible to control movement. 

The ‘Sun’

At the border, ‘Sun’ or “sunflower” drug is the most common. It has only been a few years since the drug made its way into the state. Drug trends changed over time. About 20 years ago, the residents at Tizit were exposed to Opium. Then, Spasmo-Proxyvon (SP) took over before Sunflower penetrated the COVID-19 pandemic.

One thing was certain: these drugs penetrated users in the state from beyond. While the state police seized several drug consignments, there were no records of ‘sunflower’ seizures till last year.

“Nagaland is a transit route for smuggling of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. Most opioid drugs come via Manipur to Nagaland and exit to Assam through Dimapur. In this regard, Nagaland Police has been intensifying its efforts to track the backward and forward linkages too,” the Nagaland Police had said. 

Also read | Betrayed by CPM, ignored by BJP: Why Tripura’s Muslims are joining TIPRA Motha