"Defying the Darkness: A journey in the battle against drugs"
- Doyens media
- Aug 8, 2023
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 10, 2023
Humans bear witness to a large history of issues that they have overcome with resilience and patience. Yet, there remain some issues so persistent since the ancient ages, that we are still waging a collective war against them. Drug related problem is one such issue that has deeply permeated societies worldwide.
According to data provided by Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, apart from alcohol, the most common narcotics are cannabis, opioids, sedatives, inhalants, cocaine, ATS, and hallucinogens. The table below gives the number of users against each narcotic between the ages of 10-75.
These statistics may not seem alarming at first, but taking into consideration that India is a growing economy, and the rise in both international illegal trade of drugs and expendable income for individuals, number of consumers is also on the rise. Ease of availability of internet can also be attributed to rise in drug abuse, since deep net access and non-traceable chat apps makes peddling drugs an easier task. This is especially concerning for the youth, who are more susceptible to get into drug use due to various factors such as peer pressure, ease of access, influence from the celebrities, etc.
According to data shared by National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, AIIMS, New Delhi, almost all states of India show some prevalence of drug use. The northern and north eastern regions show a higher trend than other regions, which calls for greater focus and efforts to curb the problem at a grass root level.
No war can be won without great warriors, and in India’s war against drugs, we are grateful to have warriors such as Smt. Jaya Tasung Moyong, an anti-drug activist from Women Against Social Evils (WASE) of Arunachal Pradesh. WASE is an initiative by a group of women, who took charge against the growing drug related problem in their state, having lost their loved ones to this very evil. The group has been consistently making positive efforts in rescuing those that have been suffering from addiction, especially children. The work with information that relatives and family of addicts share with them.
Smt. Jaya ji shares many heart-wrenching stories of people, especially of children, who suffer at the hands of addicts. One such instance was of a five year old girl, who could have lost her life if Smt. Jaya ji wouldn’t have intervened to save her in time. This is but one instance out of many people that Smt. Jaya ji and WASE have helped since their inception in 2016. They have not only helped victims, addicts, but children working as peddler's too by catching them red handed in the act and bringing awareness to them regarding their actions.
In the image on the left, she can be seen, received the 25th Baya Karve award, recognising her efforts in the fight against drug peddling, especially in the north-eastern region of India.
She and her team have been consistently working against drug abuse, conducting various anti-drug programs to educate and guide the masses against this issue. They have now expanded to other social issues as well, and try their best to cater to any problem that they are contacted for. They also advocate against money powered, drug-powered or otherwise ill-motivated elections, and urge people to vote for the betterment of the state. She and her team continue to do commendable work with their activism, and contribute tremendously in making their state and the country a better place.
Doyens Media commends and congratulates Smt. Jaya ji and WASE for their work, and wish them all the best for their future endeavours.
Thoughts reflected in the blog are own and based on information available online sources. Doyens Media does not claim to own the data or statistics provided.
-Srishti Tyagi
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