What Is Kota Drug: Substance abuse hasn’t been quashed despite Bihar’s decades-long liquor prohibition. In fact, the emergence of a booming illegal narcotics market where heroin, cannabis, addictive pills and another substance called “Kota” are involved has become a cause of huge concern.
A recent The Indian Express investigation reveals that the Kota is reported to have an appearance similar to a raw form of heroin, which is sold in small amounts. It is a pale or saffron white, grain-like substance which can be broken into scores of smaller portions.
This name is said to derive from the English word quota, popularly used by locals as a synonym for a dose. The substance is reportedly taken up by inhaling along with cigarettes, according to police officials.
Kota drug is not a regulated medication. Other than heroin, it poses severe risks for dependency, overdose, and various health concerns. Furthermore, the components and purity levels might differ significantly if there are admixtures with substances of uncertain nature.
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Investigators discovered that the provision of Kota as well as other heroin-based drugs was done via an intricate network of transnational trade involving several regions such as Myanmar and other areas within southeast Asia.
The consignments were said to be coming into the country’s northeastern state of Mizoram and Manipur where they are ferried further via trafficking networks in other parts of the Northeast region such as Assam and then transported to Bihar. According to media reports based on sources provided by Indian authorities, police had also found out about routes that linked the Northeast to various districts in Bihar like Kishanganj, East Champaran, Vaishali and Bhojpur.
Patna, one of Bihar’s key consumer markets, lies in close proximity to these districts. Other types of drug have different routes, for example, cannabis (or ganja) comes into Bihar apparently from Nepal and from some of its eastern neighbours such as Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tripura, while poppy husk comes through the same route but has been reported in different areas.
Even before Bihar implemented its statewide ban on the consumption of all types of alcoholic beverages in April this year, availability of illegal liquor, alongside the rise in other kinds of intoxicating substances. It indicated that simply banning a single substance might not lead to reduced desire among users for getting intoxicated.
One likely reason for this shift, as suggested in the recent investigation, is the stark contrast in prices charged for illicit liquor versus lesser amounts of drugs. According to reports from police officials cited by The Indian Express, “A bottle of whisky which usually costs around Rs 650-750 in other parts of India sells at an approximate rate of Rs 1,500 on illegal markets within Bihar. Whereas a small amount of brown sugar could be bought around Rs 300-500 and Kota vials are being sold for Rs 300-400.”
As per the figures reported by the Bihar police headquarters and other official sources there was a substantial rise in cases being registered under the Narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances NDPS act.
The reported figures suggest that the problem extends beyond Kota to a wider range of narcotics and potentially addictive pharmaceutical products.
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