Inaugurating the 2nd Paris Pact Expert Working Group Meeting on Precursors here on Monday, the Indian Minister of State for Finance, SS Palanimanickam said : “The Paris Pact Initiative brings together the efforts of over 50 countries, which are directly affected by opium trafficking from Afghanistan and a recognition that this fight against drug abuse is a shared responsibility. Recognizing the extent and gravity of the problem, India this year has contributed $ 200,000 to the Paris Pact Initiative.”

According to the UNODC’s Afghan Opium Survey-2011 there has been 7% increase in the area under illicit opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan over the 2010 figures. What is alarming is that this cultivation has spread to areas which were earlier declared as poppy-free in the country. This cultivation is estimated at 131,000 hectare which is likely to produce 5,800 tonne of illicit opium – a 61% increase over the expected production in 2010.

“Afghan opium is estimated to kill a hundred thousand people every year, worldwide. The problem of drug addiction and diseases spread by intravenous injection such as HIV-AIDS in most of the participating countries indicate worrying trends that should provide an incentive for all governments to consider combating drug abuse as an integral part of public health policies and to deal with it at regional and international levels,” Palanimanickam said.

The Minister said that as India accounted for one-sixth of humanity, it has a special responsibility to establish a regulatory and enforcement regime to deal with the emerging challenges and to deal with them equally dynamically.

“I am happy to inform that we have put in place an elaborate legislative and administrative mechanism to counter the drug menace in the country and are conscious of the need to periodically review and strengthen the same,” the Indian Minister said.

The illicit opium production in Afghanistan largely gets converted to heroin. For this, the use of acetic anhydride and some other chemicals is critical. Afghanistan does not manufacture acetic anhydride. International trade in acetic anhydride is strictly controlled. Yet, it is evident that acetic anhydride reaches Afghanistan to be used in the illicit production of heroin. “This is indeed a challenge which has to be addressed urgently,” Palanimanickam said.

He said that India was one of the very few countries which has a tradition of medical use of naturally occurring drugs, particularly opium. The United Nations in its Conventions has recognized this tradition and has accorded India the status of a illicit supplier of opium to the world, for medical and scientific purposes. At the same time, India lies between two of the major illicit opium and heroin producing regions of the world, namely Afghanistan and Myanmar.

India also has a thriving pharmaceutical industry which utilizes a number of such narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and is the source of several lifesaving medicines for the world. Additionally, India is the manufacturer, consumer and exporter of some of the major precursors which have legitimate uses by themselves, but which are also critical ingredients in the manufacture of drugs of drugs of abuse.