India is sandwiched between two largest opium/heroine producing regions in the world—the Golden Crescent in Afghanistan and the Golden Triangle in the adjoining regions of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos. Traditionally, Northeast India, particularly the state of Manipur, has been a major transit route in illicit drug trade originating from the Golden Triangle. But in the recent years, in Manipur, there has been a tremendous increase in the cultivation and production of poppy which remain a primary component of a thriving opium/drug economy. This could have been a fallout of the declining trend in Myanmar’s poppy production. This has been a major challenge to the state of Manipur which has been reeling under political and armed conflict for more than six decades. Considering the menace, the government of Manipur has taken several steps under “War on Drugs 2.0” campaign. In this context this study attempts to analyze the genesis, issues and challenges of the rapid increase in the poppy plantation/cultivation in Manipur