In Arunachal district, women lead fight for drug-free community | North East India News,The Indian Express
The men were sent 100 km away, to a de-addiction facility in Bordumsa town. The women say the plan worked because “no one was singled out”. “They knew they were going together,” says Taijong, in her 40s.
THREE MONTHS back, Kimcham Taiju says, she made the “bravest decision” of her life: she signed up her husband for a drug de-addiction programme.
For 25 long years, Taiju’s husband, like many in his village, was addicted to ‘kaani’ — as opium is colloquially referred to in Arunachal Pradesh’s Changlang district. But one Sunday evening in March, Taiju and the other women of the village gathered at the local community hall, and decided that “enough was enough”. A list of 50 names was drawn up, and submitted for the district administration’s month-long drug de-addiction programme.
That night, Taiju broke the news to her husband. As did Damlop Jongsam, Asem Taijong and scores of women in the village of Old Changlang, whose spouses were addicts. “Jaabi ne? (Will you go),” Taiju recalls asking him. “Jaam de (I will),” was his answer.
The men were sent 100 km away, to a de-addiction facility in Bordumsa town. The women say the plan worked because “no one was singled out”. “They knew they were going together,” says Taijong, in her 40s. “Now, there is hope that Changlang will become drug-free one day.”
Located in India’s easternmost periphery, Changlang has long contended with an addiction problem. Since March last year, the district administration has been trying to find a solution through a model drug de-addiction programme, one village at a time.
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