Tobacco takedown: Kohima Police calls for community push

• KOHIMA — As Nagaland joins the global observance of World No Tobacco Day, law enforcement officials and health professionals in Kohima have underscored the urgent need for greater community involvement to address rising tobacco use, especially among minors.
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• Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Kohima, Soriso Quinker, told Eastern Mirror that enforcement of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) cannot rest solely on the police.
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• Section 6(b) of COTPA prohibits the sale of tobacco products within a 100-yard radius of educational institutions, and there is a committee under COTPA, but enforcement is typically carried out by the district-level coordination committee which involves the police, Health department, district administration, Education department and Food Safety department, he explained.
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• Police alone cannot effectively enforce COTPA as it is not just a matter of law enforcement but also of public health legislation, he said.
• Tobacco products seized by the enforcement committee during one of their operations.
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• Challenges in enforcement
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• According to Quinker, enforcement teams are activated when nodal officers notify violations, but the process is hampered by logistical and systemic limitations.
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• “We also have difficulty in proving that the shopkeeper sold tobacco to minors within the 100 yards of an educational institution, so it becomes difficult to verify without proper geo-verification,” he said. Many schools fail to display mandatory signboards, making enforcement more challenging.

Also read: Urgent action needed to ban flavoured tobacco, nicotine products: WHO

• Another issue the official highlighted was that the penalty for public smoking is only a nominal fine amount of INR 200, which according to him, fails to act as a deterrent for habitual offenders.
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• The officer also lamented that the sale of tobacco in the state is widespread with no effective monitoring and reporting mechanism where they can track violators or monitor repeat offenders at the police station level.
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• Quinker opined that most of these challenges are due to the lack of awareness about the provisions of COTPA among the public and even within the enforcement agency, shopkeepers, and school establishments. As such, he recommended regular training and sensitisation of school staff, shopkeepers near schools, and repeat inspections by the Health department, administration, and police to deter sales to minors.
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• High prevalence among minors
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• Dr. Arenla Walling, State Nodal Officer for tobacco control, shared that according to the 2019 Global Youth Tobacco Survey, 43% of Nagaland’s school children aged 13–14 use tobacco—62% of boys and 24% of girls—making Nagaland the state with the second-highest youth tobacco use in India.
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• She added that in India, tobacco is linked to 50% of cancer cases among males and 20% among females, and contributes to 40% of tuberculosis cases and 33.3% of all cancers.
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• Walling also shared that district dental OPDs reported 325 pre-cancerous cases and 22 confirmed oral cancer cases in the past year, many of which are linked to smokeless tobacco products like gutka, paan with zarda, khaini, and others.
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• Despite having tobacco control laws in place, she opined that enforcement gaps and the continued social acceptance of tobacco use severely undermine tobacco control efforts, particularly in high-burden states like Nagaland.
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• Walling encouraged families to create tobacco-free homes, speak openly with children, and support those trying to quit. Schools, faith leaders, and community groups also play a key role in addressing this epidemic to secure our communities from the growing health crisis from tobacco use, she stated.
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• Schools taking action
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• Some schools in Kohima have taken active steps to prevent tobacco use among students.
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• Tepuchano Kikhi, Head Teacher of Government Middle School for Children with Special Needs (CWSN) in Lerie, Kohima, said the school conducts awareness programmes and surprise checks. If any student is caught, they are given a warning and then given consultations on how tobacco use will impact them negatively in the future, she said.

Read more: 13 schools in Kohima declared tobacco-free

• She added that youth in the colony have not only banned the sale of tobacco around the school area but also take the initiative of checking the shops for violations.
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• A Nenia Theresa, Principal of Modern Higher Secondary School Kohima, shared that the school has formed an anti-tobacco committee that includes teachers and student representatives. The committee along with the discipline committee often conducts surprise checking on students, she said.
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• “We’ve warned nearby shops not to sell tobacco to students. Students caught with tobacco are first fined INR 1000. Repeat offenders would face parent intervention, but we haven’t had any so far,” she said.
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• Theresa also shared that the school recently organised a seminar where teachers who have used tobacco spoke directly to students who struggle with similar habits.
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• Meanwhile, another higher secondary school in Kohima, speaking on condition of anonymity, said their school is a ‘tobacco-free school’ and conducts regular awareness and surprise checks. Student offenders are fined and their parents are also informed.