AIZAWL: At least 1,321 people including 138 females have died due to drug abuse in Mizoram since 1984 when the first drug-related death due to heroin was detected in the state, said state excise and narcotics department records released on the occasion of International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking today.
The main killer drug in the state was spasmo proxyvon, which killed 1,162 people during the same period and 59 people due to other clinical drugs, the records said. Though sandwiched by Myanmar and Bangladesh with which it shares a 722 km-long porous international border and Myanmar being one of the most well-known conduits of heroin trafficking from the infamous Golden Triangle, only 100 people died in Mizoram during the period due to heroin.
Clinical drugs like spasmo proxyvon and parvon spas (prominent pain-killers) caused around 90 per cent of drug-related deaths in the state. A function to mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking was held in Aizawl with the theme 'Development without drugs,' which was addressed by state Excise and Narcotics minister R Lalzirliana and Social Welfare minister P C Lalthanliana.