Opinion | Drug trafficking must be treated as an act of terrorism.

For years now our valley is witnessing a new epidemic called drug addiction. This has spurred deep concern in our society. Though government and at societal level there are efforts to chalk out strategies to try and wean away people from drug abuse but more and more people continue to fall victims of drug abuse. Government is very much serious but drug supply lines remain intact and it seems that war against drugs need a lot of time to win.

Time has come that substance consumers and persons in its trafficking should be dealt equally with one yardstick. Consumers should be jailed and kept away from the society rather than expecting their recovery. The more they are kept in the society the more people they will get into this curse. Since its business and its consumption is connected to Norco terrorism, state should show no mercy upon anybody involved in it.

Many state and central agencies work in isolation. The state police generally catch distributors and peddlers, whereas central agencies focus on apprehending big time smugglers. There is an urgent need to develop a system for sharing of information which would help the enforcement agencies connect the distributors to source of supply.  There should an empowered full fledged dedicated wing of Indian Army and BSF who would look into the issue.

Also Officers and Officials of state Revenue Department should be empowered to act in drug related case. Since this Department is deeply connected with every household and family member of a village through its field functionaries, it can prove helpful to gather the information related to a citizen’s actions at the grass root level. Citizen’s often hesitate to give information about drug peddlers to the police , but if a civil department like Revenue Department is put into this job, it can be a big source of information about anti social elements like drug peddlers etc.
Exposing a drug traffic network requires years of planning, intelligence collection and sustained efforts to bust the network.
There is a need to develop special skills within police paramilitary and Army organizations dealing with drugs. Officers must be trained on investigation techniques to track organized crime syndicates.

(About Writer : Writer can be contacted on: syedjahanzeeb2@gmail.com)