For local users, opium is a time-tested phenomenon. “Opium gives us strength to drive for long hours. It is not a drug here, it is a traditional medicine. Rajasthan has for long a large opium consuming population,’’ points out a truck driver who even goes so far as to illustrated its usage. In rural areas, opium is consumed at social gatherings, marriages and even condolences. According to local custom, opium initiation ceremonies are held in various rural communities like Vishnoi, Seervi and Jats after which offerings are duly made to Lord Shiva.
The implications of cultivation and trade of opium are manifold. Major educational hubs like Jodhpur, Jaipur and Kota have found users among its young student population setting out to make careers.
In order to get a handle on the rampant drug trade, India and Pakistan signed a pact to ensure its curb in 2011. But the long international border makes things difficult because Afghanistan and Pakistan are known international hubs for illegal drug distilling, production and trade, and its impact easily spilling over to India.
The Intelligence Bureau, which first raised the alarm about Rajasthan, says the state has become a favorite landing point for everything illegal emanating out of Pakistan. In November 2013, senior police officers of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan got together to discuss and chalk out plans to effectively tackle inter-state smuggling of narcotics and other intoxicants. This followed seizures of many big consignments of opium and poppy husk on a regular basis by law enforcement agencies.
Security experts say that since drug trade is directly linked to terrorism, the issue assumes a graver dimension. As compared to fake currency racketeers, the perpetrators of the illegal opium trade have found it easier to supply drugs since there continues to be a big market. The police say that terror networks have been pushing this trade more aggressively of late since they find the need to raise money for their operations. No resources are clearly going to be enough to tackle a menace of this magnitude.
