Arunachal Pradesh has been notorious for the illegal cultivation of opium, known as Kaani, locally.
The hotspot for opium cultivation is Mishmi Hills, bordering Myanmar - which is the second largest opium producer in the world after Afghanistan.
But efforts have been taken over the years to change the situation - from women taking a stand against opium addiction to a push to cardamom cultivation.
A University of Cambridge study states opium cultivation data in Arunachal Pradesh based on an unpublished report by the Institute of Narcotics Studies and Analysis (INSA), an independent Indian NGO.
This estimated that 16,441 hectares of opium poppies were illegally cultivated in two districts (Anjaw and Lohit) of eastern Arunachal Pradesh in 2010.
In Arunachal Pradesh, almost all of the opium is harvested by using the rare ‘opium cloth method’ where poppy capsules are lanced with home-made tools (one or a few razor blades mounted on a bamboo stick) and the exuding opium is collected on a cloth, which is then sold as it is.
Reasons for rampant opium cultivation in Arunachal Pradesh are many:
Apart from drug rehabilitation centres set up by women along with awareness campaigns by local police and district administration, there have been efforts by women's groups to end the menace.
In March 2022, scores of women from Changlang’s Kengkhu village took a stand and decided to send their opium-addicted husbands to a de-addiction facility 100km away in Bordumsa.
This campaign came to be known as "Nasha Mukt Changlang", which facilitated de-addiction treatments and where women played a major role in guiding the community towards de-addiction.
Over the years, another cash crop, cardamom, has been gradually replacing opium.
For instance, the border district of Anjaw has been fast gaining a reputation as mass producer of large-sized cardamom.
In the 2010-11 fiscal year, Anjaw recorded the production of 150 metric tons and inked a total turnover of Rs 10-12 crore.
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