Archis Mohan
New Delhi, September 5
IN THE past month, law enforcement agencies have seized nearly five tonnes of psychotropic drugs from different parts of Delhi. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) says some of these drugs are being "leaked" from legal distribution channels. The pharmaceutical industry disagrees and wants enforcement agencies to raid illegal factories.
The NCB on Monday seized 550 kg ephedrine, a drug used to manufacture amphetamines and ecstasy, from the office of a courier company in Okhla. The drug worth Rs 55 crore was being smuggled to Canada. The bureau also arrested two persons, including a Canadian national.
"We have information that the drug was siphoned off from legal distribution channels. We will book the offending distributor/manufacturer after establishing the entire trail," said Om Prakash, Deputy Director General, NCB.
The agency says there are several "controlled substances" under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act that are manufactured in India.Over the past decade, instances of these being smuggled out of the country
have become frequent.
It is not just substances like ephedrine, but also scheduled substances like benzodiazepines used as relaxants that are being smuggled out. The United Nations Of fice on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in its 2006 |
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Use and abuse
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Drugs such as ecstasy and LSD are produced by synthesising otherwise harmless chemicals.
Amphetamine Type Stimulants (ATS): These are the most popular synthetic drugs. Amphetamine, methamphetamine and methcathinone are usually diverted from legitimate trade. Ephedrine is an amphetamine.
Medical use: Earlier, widely used in medicine. The therapeutic use of certain ATS is today limited to treatment of attention deficit disorder, narcolepsy (sudden uncontrolled fits of sleep), appetite suppressant ('slimming pills') and nasal congestion.
Smuggling: Some of these substances are legally exported from India. Instances of pilferage for the grey markets have been frequent. |
Medical use: No accepted medical use. Smuggling: In 2004, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence busted a factory manufacturing the drug in Hyderabad.
Benzodiazepines: These are a group of Central Nervous System depressants closely related in their chemical structures. They are among the most frequently prescribed medicines worldwide (for daytime anxiety relief and to promote sleep)
Medical use: As anxiolytic (treatment of anxiety and stress), sedative-hypnotic in the premedication and induction of general anaesthesia, as antiepileptic and muscle relaxant .
Smuggling: Benzodiazepines in the illicit market are diverted from legitimate trade rather than synthesised in clandestine laboratories. |
Ecstasy: The 'ecstasy' group comprises synthetic substances related to amphetamine in their chemical structure. Common street names: Adam, MDM, Ecstasy, MDMA, Essence, XTC.
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Medical use: No accepted medical use. |
Methaqualone: It's a non-barbiturate synthe tic central nervous system depressant. Also called Mandrax, Parest and Quaalude.
Medical use: As a sedative-hypnotic and in treatment of malaria. It's banned.
Smuggling: Clandestinely produced. |
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report counted India among suppliers of ephedrine, methaqualone, mandrax and precursor chemicals such as acetic anhydride used to process poppy into heroin.
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"To prevent smuggling, we at the NCB have been educating manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers to keep a track of all transactions. We have also asked
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he industry to follow the KYC (know your customer) principle," said Om Prakash.
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But pilferage has been frequent as discovered over the past month with two huge seizures of ephedrine, a drug used as a decongestant and exported legally.
There is also the problem of illegal factories manufacturing mandrax, which is smuggled to South Africa. "There is a ban on the manufacture of mandrax. It is mostly made clandestinely," said Om Prakash.
In the past, NCB has busted factories manufacturing this drug in Hyderabad, South Gujarat, Rajasthan and Western Uttar Pradesh. It found that some of these factories were being financed and controlled by non-resident Indians.
D.G. Shah, chairman of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association, disagrees that psychotropic substances are diverted from legal channels.
"Such diversions are easy to track, for the NDPS Act and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act make it mandatory for each manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer to keep a track of each batch of the medicine," he said.
Shah suspects the source of these drugs may be illegal factories.
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