The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Chamgang Jail was meant to house around 400 to 500 prisoners in five blocks, but today it has around 700 plus prisoners and over half of them at around 370 are in due to drug cases.
The Bhutanese talked to three such prisoners to gain an understanding of what led them into drugs, how they got caught and a deeper insight into the drug culture and trade in Bhutan. For privacy reasons and to ensure they can share all details the paper has changed the names of the three convicts but every other detail is accurate.
A teacher
Sonam (named changed) aged 28 from Wangdue Phodrang is the last person you would assume would get locked up in Chamgang.
A gentle looking and soft-spoken person, Sonam completed his course in NIE Paro passed RCSC and was serving as a teacher in a southern Dzongkhag
However, beneath all that Sonam came from a broken family and he had a difficult childhood.
Sonam said that addiction was in his family as his father was an alcohol addict. He said things were fine for him and he was like any normal confident kid until class one when things took a big turn as his father’s alcohol problems escalated into domestic violence and aggression and his father and mother split up and got back two times until a final divorce the third time.
Sonam said, “My divorced mother was a house wife and she had to look after me and my two younger sisters. It was very tough for us and my mother went through so much hardship to provide for us and raise us.”
“Due to all this childhood trauma I felt very shameful, lost my confidence and had a lot of anxiety and I was not like a normal student who could make normal friends,” said Sonam.
Sonam said that as he rose up the classes his anxiety and lack of confidence in himself only grew especially since he had to start making presentations in class and in college. He started taking drugs to build up his confidence and also escape his reality.
He continued taking drugs in NIE Paro but he did well enough academically to pass his courses and even make it through the RCSC exams to get a job as a teacher.
After becoming a teacher Sonam tried to control his drug habit and brought down his pill consumption drastically from a high of 24 to 32 SP+ pills a day to a low of 3 to 2 pills a day.
Sonam could not quit his habit completely though he was on the verge of it and so he thought a change of location to Australia would help him to quit completely and also earn more money to help his two younger sisters and his mother.
Sonam said he had addict friends like himself who went to Australia and became clean.
He applied for further studies in Australia and got through and even got his visa and he was supposed to fly on 28th August 2023.
On the 6 th of August 2023 Sonam went to Jaigaon to replenish his SP+ plus supplies and so he bought around 100 SP+ tablets.
“I was not caught at the main Phuentsholing gate nor at the Amochu check post ahead but ultimately there was a small check post at Dorokha where I was caught,” said Sonam.
Sonam said he was prosecuted and got five years since he had more than 21 tablets even though it was for personal consumption and not sale.
Sonam said he lost everything as he could not go to Australia, and even lost his teaching job which was helping support his sisters and his mother. He will come out only in 2028.
A College Student
Tshetim (name changed) is 32 years old and from Thimphu Thromde.
Tshetim said he is from a well-off family with land in Thimphu. He is the youngest of his siblings as his father and mother had him late.
Things changed for Tshetim when his 92-year-old father died, after which there was no father who ensured he came home on time and kept an eye on him.
Tshetim said his siblings were already married and they lived on their own. The loss of his father pushed him into depression, and he then started going around with the wrong group of friends. He was pampered and he could do what he wanted with no one to supervise or control him.
He said he moved around with friends who were in the ‘drug life’ but he, himself, did not touch drugs at the point.
Things changed for Tshetim when he started attending college in Dehra Dhun, and again got into the wrong company, going for parties and enjoying life on the fast lane. This is where Tshetim picked up a drug habit which started with weed and then went on to N 10 and SP+.
In fact, once he was high on N 10 and went on a bike ride with a friend from Kashmir, India but they met an accident with the car of a local Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). His friend died and he broke both his legs.
He finished his college but did not do well in one subject for which he had a back paper.
Tshetim came back to Bhutan and like many of the youths at the time he decided to go to Australia. Everything was in place for him but the consultancy told him he needed to get a complete graduation degree for which he needed to go back to India and do the back paper.
So, in 2018, he did the back paper in India and was coming back in via Phuentsholing when the police caught him with 10 boxes of SP+ which is around 1,400 tablets in total.
Tshetim was high on drugs in the Indian taxi he had booked and he said he did not even know what was happening.
Tshetim said the drugs were for personal consumption and not selling as he was heavily using SP+ by then going through 48 to 56 tablets a day.
He got bail in his case and he came to Thimphu.
However, while in Thimphu he was again caught with drugs when police caught a drug user friend of his and set a trap where the drug user asked him to get some drugs for him which he did from a supplier and he was caught again.
Given this was the second time he was caught in an ongoing trail the judge did not give the usual 5 years but increased the sentence to 7 years and 6 months.
He entered prison in 2018 and will get out only in 2026.
A Tour Guide
Jigme (name changed) aged 37 from Lhuentse was caught in 2016 with drugs that he was bringing from Siliguri for his consumption along with a friend.
He was not caught at the gate but the police who had been tipped off about him raided his hotel room and caught him and his friend.
Though small in quantity, given the nature of the drug they were carrying, Jigme got a jail sentence of 15 years which is from 2016 to 2032.
Jigme went in jail at the age of 30 and he will come out a 45-year-old man.
Jigme also came from a well-off family, however, things started falling apart for him when his father and mother divorced when he was 14 years old.
He said he stayed with his father and his mother moved on with a step-father.
He said his father would work late until 8 pm every day, and he was free to go where he wanted and do what he liked, and so he fell into bad company.
What also did not help was that a combination of guilt and pity led to Jigme getting large amounts of money from his father, mother and even his uncles and aunties.
So, when he turned 16 and was in class 8 he started by sniffing dendrite and then progressing up the drug ladder to weed, SP+, Relapin, etc.
Jigme had easy access to drugs in college in Bangalore from pharmacy shops there who sold him SP+ at INR 2 per tablet. He worked there for three years in a call center after graduation and then came back to help is grandfather run a hotel in Paro. Around this time, he became a tour guide.
He said his dealer in Thimphu who dealt in the specific drugs he used had been caught, and so he went to Siliguri to get it himself when he got caught on the way back.
Jigme with tears in his eyes and his voice cracking said, “I lost 12 of my friends to drug overdose. Two were deliberate suicide overdoses with my one friend not liking that his father remarried after his mother’s death and another friend having marital problems with his wife.”
Jigme said that those taking drugs should never mix it with alcohol as the combination in high doses can kill.
He said his friends were all from well off families, but either their parents were separated or they were given too much money and time with no proper parental guidance and supervision.
The Family Unit and early intervention
All three of the above said they did not want to blame their family members or situation, but ultimately what a child goes through at a young and vulnerable age, including trauma, plays a huge role in whether they pick up drug habits or not.
They also said the other important role of the family is not giving unlimited freedom and money to kids and to keep an eye out for them
Sonam said that he regrets now not seeking early help for his addiction due to which he has lost so much, but he was afraid of the stigma around drug addiction, the fear of losing his teaching job, how his colleagues would view him. He said the system views alcoholics sympathetically and there is help for them, but not so in the case of drug addiction.
Also given that all three of them got into drugs while in school or college early intervention and support at this stage is important too.
Drug availability and the drug trade
The vast majority of drugs that come into Bhutan are from across the border, and most of them come via Jaigaon through multiple dealers.
Both Sonam and Tshetim said that the moment they entered Jaigaon, strangers would walk up to them and ask them if they wanted drugs.
“Just by looking at the faces, they seem to know who are drug addicts and approach them,” said Tshetim.
Sonam said that one of the main places where he used to get drugs in Jaigaon is behind the JB Supermarket.
They said drugs cannot be got easily from pharmacies, but there are several drug suppliers doing both retail and wholesale business.
Retailers sell a box of SP+ for Nu 2,000 while wholesalers give it for Nu 1,500 to Nu 1,000 per box.
The three of them said that while drugs user start with a small number of tablets, but as resistance builds up then a large number of tablets are required to get the same effect. At that stage when they try to quit, they get both physical and mental symptoms and an intense longing for the drug.
The drugs are brought up mainly by transporters transporting vegetables, groceries, supplies, etc., hoping to make extra income and also the unemployed or the desperate persons who have debts to pay off, like gambling debts.
Sonam said some of those include people without CID cards who could not get work opportunities at other places.
They said drugs were also being brought in via ambulances and via monks and in vehicles in the past which were not checked due to exceptions (they are all being checked now).
All three of them said the drugs are ordered by the ‘Big Fishes’ in Thimphu who put in the money and use transporters and drug peddlers in between, and so they are rarely caught as even a money trail to them is difficult to prove.
These big fishes use peddlers in Thimphu, Paro and other places so there is no risk for them as the RBP can only arrest them if they have evidence.
Sonam said drug users in Phuentsholing, to avoid getting caught with drugs on them, come to Jaigaon to the suppliers consume the drugs and head back.
He said while waiting at the house of the drug supplier in Jaigaon, during lunch break, he saw around 20 to 30 Bhutanese from Phuentsholing coming in to consume drugs within 10 minutes and then leaving.
In Thimphu, the drug is not available in shops, like tobacco once was when it was illegal, but there are specific dealers and peddlers.
Jigme said before there would be a group of youths to contact in Mothithang, another in Changangkha, Sabzi Bazar, etc.
They talked about one instance that they heard about, when a drug supplier from Jaigaon who carried the drugs on him, hiked away from the check posts through the forest carrying the drugs.
Jaigaon not only supplies drugs to Bhutan, but to youths from Sikkim and other places as well.
They said there is a suspicion that the same drug sellers may also be tipping of the RBP as there is a reward for drug informers, which means double profit.
Sonam said drug suppliers in Jaigaon do get caught by Indian police but are let go after paying bribes.
An Appeal
All three of them said that the current legal provisions are too stringent, as anything above 21 SP+ tablets lead to a minimum 5-year term even though they all had brought in drugs for personal consumption.
Sonam said people like them should be given a second chance. He said they are ready to stay even for two years in rehab treatment, but away from Chamgang with the second year going in encouraging and helping new addicts.
Sonam said given the rate of drug consumption many more productive people could go behind bars.
Jigme said with the number of drug arrests there will be no space in prisons. He said earlier one needed to finish 75% of one’s sentence to serve in open air prison, but it got reduced to 50% and is now 25% due to too many prisoners.
He said there are around 1,950 people in open air prisons working on various public projects and around half of them would be related to drug cases. He said people can access drugs in these open-air prisons, as they are allowed to go out shopping once a week.
Tshetim said that other countries have sentencing based on the amount of drugs caught, but here, somebody who brings more than 21 tablets and who brings in 7,000 tablets are both treated the same legally.
Jigme also said that prison time is the last thing an addict should through as the confinement only makes their condition worse.
He said in the past, there are those who got released and went back to drug use and peddling. He said this is because prison time, firstly leads to stigma, and then there are NOC issues for 3 to 5 years where they cannot make a livelihood or reintegrate back into society. He said more needs to be done on this front.
There is also the danger of drug users meeting hardened convicts inside and getting hardened in the process.
He and the others all welcomed the Substance Use Disorder (SUD) treatment program being implemented by the PEMA Secretariat in Chamgang, where around 420 are undergoing it. They said this is of great help.
Sonam pointed out there are many cases where young fathers have been arrested, but they have wives and young toddlers with no one to take care of them.
Jigme said more drug seizures will only push up drug prices, and this will tempt more to get into it as there will be more money to be made.
All three of them, based on their experiences, appealed to the youth to not take drugs as it would destroy their lives.
Jigme said, “Do not get into drugs as it is a one-time time enjoyment, but when you get caught your life feels like it finished.”
He also said that even other crimes like murder, rape, burglary happens under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
Sonam said from being the main hope of the family, he cannot even take care of his sisters and his mother now.
Tshetim said that if youth cannot give up drugs to not have it in front of younger friends as it will give them wrong example and add glamour and acceptability to it, which is wrong.
All three of them also said the police information network on drug information is very sophisticated and youths abusing and transporting drugs have a high chance of getting caught.
