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• India is the only country currently producing licit opium gum for medical and scientific purposes. ¹ The Indian Government has taken stringent measures to put in place an elaborate system of regulatory and preventive controls but certain quantities do flow into illicit channels, although, the extent of diversion is very difficult to determine. ²
• In mid-May 2007, Delhi Police recovered about 27 kg of opium, making it one of the biggest hauls of opium, in the capital in the last two years. According to the police, the arrests were made after tip-offs were received on opium smugglers from Punjab passing through the capital while transporting their consignments from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan to Jammu and Himachal Pradesh. ³ In addition to opium, 750 gm of heroin was seized from the same group.

• Indian law enforcement usually seizes, on average, about 1,000 kg of heroin annually. Whereas, in recent years, the amount traceable to South-West Asia (Afghanistan and Pakistan) was in the range of 50 kg annually, now the figure is around 300kg.
• Small quantities of heroin also reach the north eastern parts of India through Myanmar.
• The spread of the user base of the drugs from the urban to semi-urban and rural areas in the country has been noted. This is an emerging problem not just in the North-Western states (such as Punjab, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar) which are prone to cross-border smuggling of drugs, but in states without an international border like Madhya Pradesh. ⁴ The rise in drug trafficking into these interior areas is made easier through the significant migration of people and the growth of the semi-urban areas in the country.

• In 2006, 206 kg of cocaine was seized in Mumbai. This was the largest seizure of the drug in India so far, and amounted to more than the total amount of seizures made during the preceding ten years in the country. However, it is possible that the consignment may not have been destined for India and was for onward shipment to some other country.
• Reports ⁵ have indicated an increase in the abuse of cocaine in India, particularly among the affluent segment of the population in the metropolitan areas. A 2002 UNODC study had indicated that cocaine users constitute the third largest group of treatment seekers in Maharashtra. ⁶
• On 3 May 2007, a Nigerian was arrested with 16 gms of cocaine in Saket, Delhi. While 16 grams of cocaine is not an alarming quantity, Police records show there has been a sharp increase in cases of cocaine peddling this year, especially in south Delhi. With this incident, this year's tally of peddlers arrested and cocaine seized was almost three times more than the figure for the first four months of 2006. ⁷
• In mid-May of this year, with seizures reportedly of more than Rs.3 million worth of cocaine over just one weekend, the Delhi Police have unearthed a cocaine cartel in the city. ⁸ The customer base for the drug is mostly young (many, well educated) persons from affluent circles and rave party organizers.
• Although, the use of cocaine, ecstasy, and similar so-called up-market drugs, is currently limited to the affluent circles in the country, cocaine-market-related scenarios from other parts of the world suggest the need to monitor the potential spread of cocaine abuse in India.

• India is a large manufacturer of pharmaceuticals, accounting for about 10% of the total quantity of pharmaceuticals produced in the world. ⁹
• Pharmaceuticals that are commonly diverted for abuse within India, as indicated by Indian Narcotics Control Bureau, ¹⁰ are, Proxyvon®, Phensedyl®/ Corex®, Diazepam®, Nitrazepam® and Tidigesic®. ¹¹
• The most significant shift in drug use patterns in India is the move from smoking or chasing to the injecting of drugs. In the case of the North-East, abuse of pharmaceuticals brought in from other parts of India is fuelling a severe public health problem.
• Although, the abuse of pharmaceutical drugs is indicated more markedly in some of the North-Eastern states in India, however, the abuse is also reported to takes place in other states, including, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab and Tamil Nadu.
• The smuggling of pharmaceuticals from India, especially codeine-based cough syrups, dextropropoxyphene and injectible buprenorphine, is a major concern for India's neighbours, particularly Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
• A related issue is that of counterfeit medicines. One government study suggested counterfeit drugs were just 0.5% of the industry while according to the media, a recent study by Assocham, ¹² put it at a higher level.
• Online pharmacies operating in many parts of the world source part of their requirements from India.
• A National Survey conducted under the aegis of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the UNODC, published in 2004, indicated the growing abuse of pharmaceuticals, leading to poly-drug abuse in South Asia. The survey indicated alcohol, cannabis, heroin, and opium as the common drugs of abuse. The 19.5% of abusers, which fell in the category of abusing 'other drugs' used substances like barbiturates, minor tranquillizers, other sedatives, amphetamines, hallucinogens, inhalants and cough syrup. ¹³ According to a 2004 rapid assessment survey conducted by UNODC, the abused injected drugs include a cocktail of pharmaceutical preparations. ¹⁴

• Amphetamines are a growing concern for Indian authorities, both as trafficked items and in terms of abuse.
• In October 2006, the Narcotics Control Bureau seized a clandestine ATS laboratory in Gurgaon, Haryana, in the western outskirts of the capital Delhi. The arrestees during this operation included a Canadian of Indian origin, and Hong Kong nationals, thus giving credence to an emerging view of trans-national groups being involved in ATS smuggling.
• Earlier, in May 2003 Indian authorities (with cooperation from the United States and China) dismantled a clandestine laboratory established to manufacture ephedrine based ATS in Kolkata. Nationals of China and Myanmar had established the illegal laboratory. In June 2004, officers of the Indian Directorate of Revenue Intelligence identified and seized a clandestine laboratory involved in the illicit manufacture of MDMA, methaqualone powder and a tablet-making unit.

• Illicitly manufactured methaqualone in India is trafficked to South Africa. The methaqualone seizures over the past few years, have shown sharp increases every alternate year.
• The amount of methaqualone which was seized in 2006, amounted to 4,420 kg. Although this is still not close to the peak seizure of 7,458 kg in 2002, the seizure for 2006, is significantly high, and the largest in the past four years.

• The wild growth of cannabis plant is found in many parts of India. Cannabis is consumed in the form of herb (ganja), or in the illegally-processed form of resin (hasish/ charas). Indications of cannabis cultivation have been found in the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Manipur. ¹⁵
• Over the past three years (2004, 2005, 2006), the law enforcement agencies have intercepted approximately 100-150 tons of cannabis herb (both indigenous and smuggled). The total cannabis herb seizures for 2006 ¹⁶ amounted to 138 tons, while the seizures for the preceding two years were, approximately 154 tons for 2005, and 144 tons for 2004. The amount of cannabis resin seized in 2006 was 3,079 kg. In 2007, up to the end of April, 2,269 kg ¹⁷ of cannabis resin and 13,276 kg of cannabis herb, had been seized.