According to the World Health Organisation, about three million lives are lost each year due to the harmful use of alcohol. Due to data deficit in Nagaland, we may not have the numbers but we are aware of the impact of substance abuse in our lives, our families and our communities, and the many illnesses and deaths related to consumption of adulterated alcohol.
35 years is long enough to truly realise if an act or a policy has achieved its intended target or goal.
In a recent press release, the Dimapur Naga Students’ Union (DNSU) had urged for the need to review/amend the NLTP Act. “Despite its noble intentions, the prohibition has inadvertently fuelled a thriving black market, perpetuating illegal activities and drug abuse,” stated the DNSU. Viewing that the Act has fallen short of its intended objectives, the Union had further cited alcohol joints found in every nook and corner, including the educational and religious institutions.
While the NLTP Act was initiated with justifiable aspirations, it is clear that the Act has not changed a fraction of the problem with alcohol consumption. Prohibition does not fix addiction. The NLTP Act today requires a much needed review and perhaps a reset.
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An editorial by Naga Journalist Chalie Kevichüsa published on September 6, 1976 (Ura Mail) titled “Is Prohibition the Answer to Our Problems?” aptly notes, “But perhaps both the Government and the Prohibitionist are not taking into consideration the most important factor-that of examining the root cause as to why so many of our young people are taking to drinking heavily. The root cause is this: For the average Naga Youth, the future holds nothing for him. He has been born and brought up in an atmosphere of fear, distrust and corruption. He has little or no prospect of securing a job.”
48 years since then, the root cause remains unchanged: despite the changing ruling governments, political atmospheres, progress in technology or even relative peace.
To move forward, we need to truly understand where we stand, be aware of our social and economic challenges, the undercurrents that fuels any addiction and depravity that Naga society is today. But we cannot keep living with the façade that NLTP Act is a success. In Nagaland, we have become experts in whitewashing our problems, in temporarily blacktopping hurdles, and facelifting anything unpleasant with temporary aesthetics, yet we have not been successful in providing sustained solutions to our problems.
To borrow Taylor Swift’s lines:
Band aids don’t fix bullet holes
