The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seizing contraband like ganja, methamphetamine tablets and heroin worth Rs. 173 crore and arresting 26 persons in the Northeast region since January this year reveals the worrying picture of illicit drug traffickers running their rackets in the region despite intensified crackdowns by law enforcement agencies. Relentless efforts by law enforcement agencies to make the northeast drug-free appear to be a long-drawn battle, but communities playing a proactive role to free the region from drug addiction will help achieve the goal in the shortest possible time. The region bordering along the porous India-Myanmar international border makes the challenge tougher for law enforcement agencies that are perceived and explains why traffickers manage to run their illicit trade targeting youth of the region even after the agencies succeed in mowing down many drug cartels. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in its report titled “Myanmar Opium Survey 2024: Cultivation, Production and Implications” brought to light that opium cultivation in Myanmar remains at high levels and the country currently ruled by a military junta remains the world’s leading source of opium. The report also lays bare the harsh reality that in Chin state in Myanmar, bordering Mizoram and Manipur, where most opium poppy cultivation is concentrated near the India-Myanmar border has witnessed 18% increase. A press release quoting Regional Representative Masood Karimipour highlights that while opium cultivation in the Golden Triangle remains high, synthetic drug production has grown steadily, and the illicit economy around online casinos and scam centres is expanding rapidly. The UNODC Representative states that decisive action is needed to avoid the situation getting out of hand, which has sounded the alarm bell for law enforcement agencies in the Northeast region. The report also states that UNODC sees significant risk of further expansion of opium production in Myanmar in the coming years due to global supply shortages resulting from decreased production in Afghanistan. India expediting the erection of a barbed wire fence along the border with Myanmar is crucial to curb the proliferation of small arms and drug trafficking in the region, but that is going to take ten years to complete, provided the work is executed at the pace to meet the target dates of various phases. This implies that the guard against illicit drug trafficking from Myanmar into and through the region in the intervening period must be intensified given the growing risk from opium cultivation expansion and increasing production of synthetic drugs in the neighbouring country. Spectacular success in the seizure of illicit drug consignments and the arrest of traffickers and peddlers is attributed to coordination and synergised operations by state police forces in the region, DRI and the Narcotics Control Bureau. The central and state governments providing more funding support to DRI, NCBs and state police forces will bolster the crackdown against drug cartels and help the agencies intensify surveillance along the known routes of trafficking. The agencies have been playing their part in cutting down supplies of illicit drugs; simultaneous reduction of demand can facilitate the law enforcement agencies to increase surveillance and seizure. It is the society, the largest stakeholder in the awareness campaign, which needs to play the major role in drug demand reduction. The government articulated and launched the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan in 2020 in 272 most vulnerable districts but later extended the campaign to all districts. The campaign focuses on higher educational institutions, university campuses, and schools to spread awareness about substance abuse, identify dependent populations, and provide counselling and treatment facilities in hospitals and rehabilitation centres. Increasing counselling support, treatment and rehabilitation requires adequate funding given the increasing number of addicted people, the majority of them youth, in the region. However, there will always be a limit to the availability of resources due to high demand in other priority areas which are critical for achieving the development goals of the country. The pragmatic option is to raise the awareness against substance abuse to a level that the communities themselves will play the proactive role in preventing drug addiction in the society and play a crucial role in surveillance against illicit drug trafficking and promptly alert the law enforcement agencies to nab the traffickers. The challenge is to transform the government-supported campaign into a strong people’s movement and integrate awareness of substance abuse as part of the social learning process so that generations grow up with the knowledge that prevention of substance abuse is vital to ensure that youths play the crucial role of building a healthier and more productive society for accelerated socio-economic development. Promoting physical activities, sports, and skill development among students and youth empowers them to build a strong personality, makes them more disciplined, cultivates leadership roles, and helps them resist peer pressure for any immoral, illegal, and harmful habits. Mainstreaming the traditional institutions of different communities in the region into the awareness campaign will bring the goals of a drug-free northeast closer.