Summary:
New Delhi, Jun 27 (PTI) India is one of the world’s single largest opiate markets in terms of users and likely to be vulnerable to increased supply as there are already signs that an intensification of trafficking in opiates originating in Afghanistan may be taking place, according to a new report.
According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime"s (UNODC) World Drug Report 2022 released on Monday, around 284 million people, aged 15-64 years, used drugs worldwide in 2020, a 26 per cent increase over the previous decade.
It also said that 11.2 million people worldwide were injecting drugs.
"India is one of the world’s single largest opiate markets in terms of users and would likely be vulnerable to increased supply, as there are already signs that an intensification of trafficking in opiates originating in Afghanistan may be taking place eastwards, in addition to southwards and westwards along the traditional Balkan route," the report said.
"Consequences could range from expanded use to increased levels of trafficking and associated organised crime.
In addition, there is the question of whether the increased availability of opiates could bring an increased number of heroin overdoses and whether increased purity could affect the harm posed by heroin use," it said.
However, the data on the number of drug users in India was not given.
According to the report, India has the fourth largest quantities of opium seized in 2020 at 5.2 tons and the third highest amount of morphine was also seized from the country the same year at 0.7 tons.
About 3.8 tons of heroin was seized in 2020 in India, the fifth highest in the world, the report said.
"In 2020, nine countries in Asia reported seizures amounting to a total of 1.2 tons of tramadol, with India accounting for all but 39 kg.
In 2019, India reported seizures amounting to 144 kg, with six other countries reporting combined seizures amounting to 70 kg," it said.
In 2020, authorities in India had announced for the first time dismantling of a major international criminal network trafficking non-medical tramadol and other psychoactive substances on the dark web, the report said.
Similarly, a year later, intensified international cooperation helped to identify and interdict global trafficking in tramadol, as well as tapentadol, a newly emerging opioid analgesic that is also not under international control and appears to have partly displaced tramadol in some markets, it said.