The city of Kolkata has a tangible problem of drug abuse, affecting largely the economically weak. The issue is further complicated by the influx of migrant workers from neighbouring rural areas. Being a port and also an international airport, it is also a significant entry point for narcotics from the 'Golden Triangle'. Due to close proximity of the northeastern states of Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Nagaland, injecting is the general mode of drug use in Kolkata. Consequently, HIV affliction among the drug-using population is already a matter of growing concern. Brown sugar, Tidigesic, SpasmoProxyvon, Avil, morphine etc. are some of the commonly used drugs. Today there are thousands of afflicted street children, daily labourers and rag pickers. They spend their entire earning on drugs or alcohol and become prone to committing crimes like theft, shoplifting, snatching and armed robbery. They are sometimes driven to extremes like selling their blood and organs and committing murder for money to procure the substances they are addicted to. Poverty, easy access to drugs, high cost of treatment centres and the large number of street-addicts have resulted in a crisis situation, which needs to be tackled on a war footing. MORE