AIZAWL: At least 67 people, including six women, have died due to substance abuse in Mizoram in 2020 with heroin being the main killer drug, an official said on Tuesday.
The state had reported 55 drug-related fatalities in 2019.
"All the 67 people, who died of drug abuse last year, were addicted to heroin. The state government has been taking several measures to curb the menace," the excise and narcotics department official said.
Most of the drugs, especially heroin, have been smuggled from Myanmar, he said.
Mizoram, which is sandwiched between Myanmar and Bangladesh, has been grappling with drug abuse since 1984 when the death of a heroin user was reported for the first time in the state.
The hilly state shares 722 km of the international border with these two countries.
Until 2015, spasmo proxyvon, which is used as a pain- killer, had caused maximum drug-related deaths in the state.
With an increasing supply of heroin from Myanmar and neighbouring states, it has become the main killer drug, the official said.
The excise and narcotics department's data showed that at least 1,646 people, including 193 women, have died of drug abuse in Mizoram since 1984.
In a bid to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease, the international border with the two countries have been sealed since March 2020, which has considerably reduced smuggling of drug and alcohol last year, he added.