India is South Asia’s largest market for drugs

New Delhi: Though a relatively small player in the global trade in illicit drugs, India has seized the largest quantities of drugs like opium, heroin and cannabis, says the latest World Drug Report released on the occasion of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26.

Based on 2006 figures, the report, compiled by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), shows that India seized 157,710 kg of cannabis, which constituted nearly 3% of the total seizures worldwide. In addition, the country confiscated 2,826 kg of opium and 1,218 kg of heroin in 2006.

The report adds that while India’s neighbouring countries are some of the biggest hubs of illegal trade in drugs — with Afghanistan, Myanmar, Pakistan and Laos leading the dubious charts — the country is the largest opiate market in South Asia with an estimated three million people in the country abusing the substance.

The UNODC report also warns that the long-term trend of containment in the production and consumption of illicit drugs was under threat.

“Urgent steps must be taken to prevent the unravelling of progress that has been made in the past few decades of drug control,” it says, adding, “Containment should not be seen as an end in itself. Real success will only come when supply and demand actually go down (rather than level off), across the world.”

For this, the report says, greater attention has to be paid to this public health sector: “More resources are needed to prevent people from taking drugs, to treat those who are dependent, and to reduce the adverse health and social consequences of drug abuse,” it states.

The report also says that drug control should be looked at in the larger context of crime prevention and the rule of law in order to cut links between drug trafficking, organised crime, corruption and terrorism. Drug money, it asserts, is used as a lubricant for corruption— with unscrupulous officials making profits from drug production and trafficking.

A surge in heroin supply in areas controlled by insurgents

However, the World Drug Report 2008 sounds an alarm about the very recent surge in drug supply. Afghanistan had a record opium harvest in 2007: as a consequence, the world's illegal opium production almost doubled since 2005.

Most cultivation (80%) took place in five southern provinces, where Taliban insurgents profit from drugs.

In the rest of the country opium cultivation is either coming to an end or declining to low levels. "Greater stability and higher economic assistance are getting rid of opium in many provinces of Afghanistan.

In the southern areas, controlled by the Taliban, counter-narcotics and counter-insurgency must be fought together", said the UN drugs chief.

Cannabis and amphetamine markets are stable

The world cannabis market is stable or even slightly down. Cannabis herb production is estimated to be some 8% lower than in 2004 and cannabis resin production declined by some 20% between 2004 and 2006.

Nevertheless, there are worrying trends: Afghanistan has become a major producer of cannabis resin, perhaps exceeding Morocco.

Use of amphetamine-type stimulants, like methamphetamine and ecstasy, has levelled off at the global level since the year 2000. Nonetheless, production and consumption remain a major problem in East and South-East Asia and markets are starting to develop in the Near and Middle East.

Source: Indian Express and UNODC