The last three decades have seen a silent shift in drug usage in northeastern states, says a United Nations report released on Wednesday.
The report titled "Drug Use in the Northeastern States of India" says that the 70s saw heroin smoking by youth followed by injection of drugs in the early 80s. These years there has been a surge in the use of amphetamines. Males are the dominant users of these drugs, while female users constitute just 5-10 percent.In Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram 90 percent use injections. Most of the past users are now trying to combat drug abuse. Manipur and Nagaland saw injection of drugs leading to a surge in HIV in 1980s. In Mizoram also this trend has been seen and is worrying since sexual partners of those affected are also contracting HIV.
The UN report says that all eight states need to have effective monitoring systems in place.
