Poppy blossoms in some interior pockets of Himachal Pradesh in summers give a tough time to cops, who often fail to keep track of illicit drug business in every nook and corner.

The Police teams, however, take action in the areas affected, which is spread across several Panchayats in Mandi and Kullu, and register some cases yearly.

Things come back to square one for want of comprehensive intervention to address this socio-economic issue in the long run.

While drug abuse is a prominent issue in Punjab, HP is struggling on three different fronts-illicit cultivation of cannabis and poppy on government and private land, drug trafficking and consumption, which includes substance abuse as well.

Poppy is ready for harvest in April-May and Cannabis in September-October.
Sources said poppy is roughly grown on over 5,000 bighas, including private land, in upper heights of Kullu and Mandi districts.

There is, however, no count of cannabis as it is widely seen growing on forest area, government and private land by people in Kullu, Mandi, Chamba and some other areas.

The cannabis business has been flourishing for decades-long, mainly in Kullu, with alleged involvement of foreigners, poppy is largely handled by locals, who sell off produce in Punjab.

Sources said the consumption of opium is quite low in HP and it sells only in some industrial belts.

The enforcement is ticklish issue and can’t be handled once for all times to come, given the magnitude of socio-economic angle and dilly dally political stand on drug issue.

“We have destroyed 7,400 Poppy plants on 695 bighas of forest land, 1,200 plants on 474 bighas of government land and have registered four cases under NDPS Act for illegal cultivation of poppy on private agriculture land in April this month,” said District Police chief, Mandi, Gurdev Chand Sharma.

“We take it as a drive, do community policing and involve the Panchayats too. Poppy is grown in tough interiors, which are difficult to access,” he added.

Former Narcotics Control Bureau Officer, Om Prakash Sharma, who had done major crackdown to nab drug mafia in Kullu and Mandi from 2003-2007 and is still working for the cause voluntarily, said HP needs a multi-pronged strategy to check the problem of drugs.

“There has to be strict enforcement, intensive monitoring and an alternative development plan for those who are into illicit cultivation and trafficking of poppy and cannabis for livelihood. To check abuse, the Police should nab the drug supply link-ups, than just nabbing individuals,” Sharma said.

He recently gave a presentation before the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Union Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry during their Dharamshala visit, wherein he advocated the constitution of independent authority in the state to handle the drug issue.

Sources in Police said a complete drug policy is on the anvil in HP on the directions of court, and a meeting of stakeholder departments is being held in this regard on 31 May.