Free Essays-Economy-A Monster in the Making

A Monster in the Making

Greater international co-operation and co-ordination among enforcement agencies, is the need of the hour to curb and check drug abuse and illicit trafficking and prevent it from getting out of control. Despite mounted efforts and awareness creation, the problem is assuming wider and deeper proportions world-wide, with anti-social elements involved in the trade resorting to novel and smart ways to outwit the enforcement agencies.

The United Nations had decided to observe June 26 every year since 1987 as the International Day on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. This was one of the several decisions taken to check the menace following an international conference on the subject. Outlining a comprehensive multidisciplinary strategy for future activities in drug-abuse control and checking illicit trafficking, the conference underscored the need for a collective political will to combat the menace. It also called for national, regional and global-level co-ordination to free the international society from its clutches. Its resolution urged the governments and organisations to evolve practical measures to effectively contribute to the fight against this threat. It also urged the member States to make available additional resources to the UN Fund for Drug-abuse Control, on priority basis and co-ordinate with the UN Commission on Narcotics Control.

A concept paper prepared by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment says drug problem is a grave issue with global ramifications. Being wedged between the world’s two largest areas of illicit opium production, the Golden Crescent and the Golden Triangle, India needs to protect its population from the spill over effect of drug while illicit drugs are transited through the country. In addition, the possibility of diversion from the permitted opium crop and the conversion of the same into heroin, the illicit cultivation of opium poppy and cannabis, the clandestine manufacture of Methaqualone and Mandrax, the trafficking of cannabis and hashish from Nepal as well as the diversion of precursors from both domestic and international trade add to the drug scenario. A new factor in this picture is the existing poppy cultivation in Myanmar coupled with trafficking of amphetamine type stimulants (ATS) from Myanmar into India.

Conservative estimates place the number of drug users in India above 3 million and initial reports from the national study indicate that drug abuse is alarmingly increasing. Moreover 5-10 per cent of HIV seropositives are Injecting Drug Users (IDUs). The abundant availability of illicit drugs, the magnitude of the country with a population of more than one billion, a multitude of languages and a complex drug control situation, makes it difficult to effectively address the drug abuse problem. Supply including traffic and demand enhance and support one another in the development and maintenance of drug abuse, and the vicious circle of increasing demand and rising supply continue to generate illicit drug activities with its associated problems.

Although India is a large manufacturer of pharmaceuticals, with regular mechanisms in place, abuse of pharmaceuticals cannot be ruled out. India’s usage as a transit route is established and intelligence reports continue to indicate the extensive use of the Tamil Nadu coastline around Tuticorin as a staging point for heroin shipments to Sri Lanka. Kashmir has emerged as one source of hashish seized in the country. Hashish is also being smuggled into India from Nepal across the border into the States of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh from where it finds its way to Delhi and Mumbai. An increasing number of rich and affluent people are using cocaine in Delhi and other cities. This contradicts the myth that cocaine abuse does not take place in Indian cities. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Regional Office for South Asia, supported this multi-component survey of “The extent, trends and pattern of drug abuse in India”.

The geographic location of India; wider availability and usage of drugs in the country; adequate technology and know-how for conversion of drugs; a socially varied mix of users cutting across caste, class and creed boundaries; the breakdown of traditional societies and large-scale rural-urban migration have contributed to the rise in drug abuse in recent years.

Print and broadcast media practitioners can help promote a lasting solution to the drug abuse problem through a constant flow of balanced news, features, commentaries and documentaries for their different audiences or target groups. The responsibilities of media in drug abuse prevention and control can be awareness creation, education, assessment, prevention, intervention and providing information on treatment, rehabilitation and after-care. Support and participation in community research activities can also form a part of the role of the media.

Greater international co-operation and co-ordination among enforcement agencies, is the need of the hour to curb and check drug abuse and illicit trafficking and prevent it from getting out of control. Despite mounted efforts and awareness creation, the problem is assuming wider and deeper proportions world-wide, with anti-social elements involved in the trade resorting to novel and smart ways to outwit the enforcement agencies.

The United Nations had decided to observe June 26 every year since 1987 as the International Day on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. This was one of the several decisions taken to check the menace following an international conference on the subject. Outlining a comprehensive multidisciplinary strategy for future activities in drug-abuse control and checking illicit trafficking, the conference underscored the need for a collective political will to combat the menace. It also called for national, regional and global-level co-ordination to free the international society from its clutches. Its resolution urged the governments and organisations to evolve practical measures to effectively contribute to the fight against this threat. It also urged the member States to make available additional resources to the UN Fund for Drug-abuse Control, on priority basis and co-ordinate with the UN Commission on Narcotics Control.

A concept paper prepared by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment says drug problem is a grave issue with global ramifications. Being wedged between the world’s two largest areas of illicit opium production, the Golden Crescent and the Golden Triangle, India needs to protect its population from the spill over effect of drug while illicit drugs are transited through the country. In addition, the possibility of diversion from the permitted opium crop and the conversion of the same into heroin, the illicit cultivation of opium poppy and cannabis, the clandestine manufacture of Methaqualone and Mandrax, the trafficking of cannabis and hashish from Nepal as well as the diversion of precursors from both domestic and international trade add to the drug scenario. A new factor in this picture is the existing poppy cultivation in Myanmar coupled with trafficking of amphetamine type stimulants (ATS) from Myanmar into India.

Conservative estimates place the number of drug users in India above 3 million and initial reports from the national study indicate that drug abuse is alarmingly increasing. Moreover 5-10 per cent of HIV seropositives are Injecting Drug Users (IDUs). The abundant availability of illicit drugs, the magnitude of the country with a population of more than one billion, a multitude of languages and a complex drug control situation, makes it difficult to effectively address the drug abuse problem. Supply including traffic and demand enhance and support one another in the development and maintenance of drug abuse, and the vicious circle of increasing demand and rising supply continue to generate illicit drug activities with its associated problems.

Although India is a large manufacturer of pharmaceuticals, with regular mechanisms in place, abuse of pharmaceuticals cannot be ruled out. India’s usage as a transit route is established and intelligence reports continue to indicate the extensive use of the Tamil Nadu coastline around Tuticorin as a staging point for heroin shipments to Sri Lanka. Kashmir has emerged as one source of hashish seized in the country. Hashish is also being smuggled into India from Nepal across the border into the States of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh from where it finds its way to Delhi and Mumbai. An increasing number of rich and affluent people are using cocaine in Delhi and other cities. This contradicts the myth that cocaine abuse does not take place in Indian cities. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Regional Office for South Asia, supported this multi-component survey of “The extent, trends and pattern of drug abuse in India”.

The geographic location of India; wider availability and usage of drugs in the country; adequate technology and know-how for conversion of drugs; a socially varied mix of users cutting across caste, class and creed boundaries; the breakdown of traditional societies and large-scale rural-urban migration have contributed to the rise in drug abuse in recent years.

Print and broadcast media practitioners can help promote a lasting solution to the drug abuse problem through a constant flow of balanced news, features, commentaries and documentaries for their different audiences or target groups. The responsibilities of media in drug abuse prevention and control can be awareness creation, education, assessment, prevention, intervention and providing information on treatment, rehabilitation and after-care. Support and participation in community research activities can also form a part of the role of the media.

India’s ability to control the threat lies in its strength in infrastructure and facilities for fulfilling the training needs of service providers in the region and resource persons for programming on various aspects of alcohol and drug abuse prevention including project formulation, needs assessment, surveys and evaluation. Resource materials for programme planners and service providers on alcohol and drug abuse prevention as well as expertise in the implementation of Workplace Prevention Programme also form part of India’s strength. Strengths can be shared and weaknesses can be mitigated in this task only with cooperation among all countries.

India’s ability to control the threat lies in its strength in infrastructure and facilities for fulfilling the training needs of service providers in the region and resource persons for programming on various aspects of alcohol and drug abuse prevention including project formulation, needs assessment, surveys and evaluation. Resource materials for programme planners and service providers on alcohol and drug abuse prevention as well as expertise in the implementation of Workplace Prevention Programme also form part of India’s strength. Strengths can be shared and weaknesses can be mitigated in this task only with cooperation among all countries.

-V.K.Subramanian-Information Officer,PIB,New Delhi