Overview

• Drug use in Meghalaya begins at an average age of 19, with some children starting as young as 10 and more than one-third initiating drug use as minors, including a quarter while still in school.
• Over 91% of surveyed users are male, 80% work in the unorganised sector, and more than half have fewer than ten years of schooling.
• Heroin is the most commonly injected drug, with daily expenditures ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 2,000 and occasional spending up to Rs 2,500 on potent variants known locally as ‘black tiger’ and ‘double tiger’.
• Researchers identified curiosity, family problems, peer pressure and the desire for stress relief as main reasons for early drug initiation and noted that drugs are easily obtained through marketplaces and mobile-based transactions.
• State authorities are reviewing preventive strategies and researchers urge urgent outreach in schools and community spaces to curb early initiation and long-term addiction.