GUWAHATI
A total of 68 people have died due to drug abuse in Mizoram between January and November, 2023.
An update by the State’s Excise and Narcotics Department ahead of the formation of a new government said heroin was the main killer of these people, including 11 women.
“The figure may increase by the year-end but the number of drug-related deaths has exceeded the 43 recorded in 2022, which was a marginal drop from 47 in 2021,” a departmental officer said, declining to be quoted.
The first case of drug-related death in Mizoram, a major route for the smuggling of heroin and other narcotic substances from Myanmar, was recorded in 1984. A total of 1,804 people, including 218 women, have died due to drug abuse since then.
Drug abuse in Mizoram reached alarming levels by the turn of the millennium with 139 deaths in 2000. The highest number of drug-related deaths was 143 recorded in 2004.
Checking drug trafficking and abuse was one of the poll promises of the ruling Mizo National Front and other major political parties. The elections to the 40-member Mizoram Assembly were held on November 7.
Between January and October this year, sleuths of the Excise and Narcotics Department seized 76.22 kg of heroin. The total seizure of heroin in 2022 was 33.4 kg.
Officials of the department also seized 148.46 kg of ganja or cannabis, 78.82 kg of methamphetamine, and other drugs, apart from a substantial quantity of alcohol. Liquor is banned in Mizoram, a dry State.
