The war against illicit drugs waged by the Assam Police has led to the seizure of huge quantities of drugs and the arrest of more than 20,000 peddlers and illegal drug traders over the past eight years. The worrying development is that more than 17,000 of those arrested have been released from jails during this period, which points towards inherent deficiencies in the criminal justice system. Ironically, this was also the trend during the period from 2011 to 2016, when more than 1,000 drug traders and about 1,300 arrests in connection with drug trafficking and peddling were released. The release of arrested drug traffickers weakens the war against drugs and dampens the relentless efforts of the Assam police and other law-enforcing agencies. The deterrence impact of arrests and seizures can be bolstered by providing more teeth to the laws meant for curbing illicit drugs. Strengthening evidence collection and forensic examination to present strong and irrefutable evidence is also crucial to ensuring stringent punishment for those involved in the crime. Drug traders and peddlers roaming freely implies more students and youth becoming their prey and becoming drug addicts. The alarming rise in the number of drug addicts in the state is a cause for grave concern. It has ruined families, resulted in untimely deaths, and crippled mental health problems. The addiction spreads quickly under peer pressure, as most of the victims of drug trafficking are unable to foresee the consequences. Parallel to the crackdown against drug trafficking gangs, an aggressive drive against drug abuse needs a stronger policy push. Measures to curb drug trafficking include the launch of an app called ‘Drug Free Assam’ in 2021, which facilitates reporting of illicit drug trade without disclosing the identity of the informant. Since its launch, the Assam Police have registered 12 cases after receiving information from 287 individuals. The figures are reflective of the information about the app not being widely disseminated among the people. Spreading information about the app can encourage more people to report incidents of drug trafficking, which they often claim in public or during media coverage of any incident related to drug seizure, arrest of traffickers, or death due to suspected drug overdose. Parents of children who have become drug addicts coming forward to seek the help of the police to nab the culprit who induced their ward to drug abuse will go a long way in strengthening the fight against drugs. Unfortunately, many parents hide for fear of stigmatisation, and when they realise the need to seek the assistance of counsellors, it is already too late. The number of drug addicts in the state has risen alarmingly, which calls for revisiting the awareness drive and campaign against drug abuse currently being conducted to find the deficiencies and rectify those. Drug addiction and rehabilitation have not received the required attention from the government and every section of society. Surprise visits carried out by Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Pijush Hazarika in various de-addiction and rehabilitation centres revealed that many of these centres do not fulfil the basic requirements, are poorly managed, and are running without an adequate number of professionally trained staff. The state government issued fresh guidelines and standard operating procedures, which were released by Hazarika, for running these centres and establishing new centres, which is a laudable initiative. The guidelines make it mandatory for rehabilitation centres to provide facilities for psychiatric treatment to inmates; they must have at least 25 beds, two nurses, a cook, and 15 other staff facilities, including a psychiatrist as one of them. The guidelines made it clear that the rules apply to both government-run and private rehabilitation centres. It warns of stringent action against the centre if an inmate dies during rehabilitation. The guidelines also state that inmates who have stayed at a rehabilitation centre for six months will not be allowed to open their own centre upon release. They will need to spend three years in treatment at a centre before they can start their own. The new rules are expected to improve the condition of rehabilitation centres but the given the huge number of addicts that government support for de-addiction and rehabilitation programmes need to increase to reduce financial burden on poor and downtrodden families. The success of rehabilitation programs is critical to sending across a positive message that all is not lost when any member of a family falls prey to drug peddlers. Most inmates who come out of addiction become influential volunteers in the social campaign against drug addiction, as they are keen to share their stories and what they went through, which can warn youth not to succumb to peer pressure. Educational institutions need to take the campaign beyond a routine awareness drive. Society must prioritise moral education at home and in educational institutions to motivate youth to take stronger resolutions to stay away from drugs and fight against them.