The Drug Menace: Dimensions, Trends and Tribulations in Punjab
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Occasional Paper THE DRUG MENACE: DIMENSIONS, TRENDS AND TRIBULATIONS IN PUNJAB P. S. VERMA 2014 INSTITUTE FOR DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATION, CHANDIGARH © Institute for Development and Communication, 2014 Published by Institute for Development and Communication, 2014 Sector 38-A, Chandigarh - 160 014, India Tel : 0172-2625941 Fax : 0172-2625942 E-mail : [email protected] web : www.idcindia.org All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing of Institute for Development and Communication. THE DRUG MENACE: DIMENSIONS, TRENDS AND TRIBULATIONS IN PUNJAB Prof. P.S. Verma The use of illicit psychoactive substances, which is relatively concentrated among youths, has assumed global dimensions. It is not bound by territory or, for that matter, caste, class, religion, ethnicity, region and country. As a matter of fact, the tentacles of illicit drugs have spread far and wide covering every community and country in the world. According to some scholars, “the pursuit of consciousness alteration through the use of both legal and illegal psychoactive substances is a pervasive feature of humans” and “there are only a few recorded instances of societies anywhere in history that have lived without the use” of such types of substances1. However, the traditional drug use of plant based natural substances like opium, cannabis etc. was limited mainly to socio-cultural ceremonies, festive occasions, meditation and medicinal purposes. It was neither stigmatized nor had assumed any widespread epidemic dimensions. But this was changed when the use of narco-drugs had become a health concern threatening humans, especially in the nineteenth century. As per the World Drug Report: “Opium and cannabis……… have long been used in Asia and, later, in Africa and Europe; the same is true for coca leaf in the Andean sub-region and khat in the countries in the area of the Gulf of Aden. Moreover, a number of hallucinogenic plants have also long been consumed by humans. Traditional drug use was limited largely to special religious and social events, as well as some medical use. This changed in the nineteenth century when opium became a big business. Opium dens became popular throughout East and South-East Asia and large-scale drug addiction developed as a result”2. The increasing pace of urbanization and “concomitant industrial acceleration”, which “uprooted a vast humanity from its close rural environs” and weakened or dissolved social cohesion to a considerable degree, gave further impetus to substance abuse. In addition, the developments in the chemical and processing technology had revolutionalized the processing technology and production of mood- 1 altering substances “of varying potencies and varying effects”, resulting in “a great variety of more potent and therefore harmful drugs and narcotic substances”3 flooding the markets and making the drug use a social problem jeopardizing the health and welfare of people. By the twentieth century, it had engulfed the entire world. In the absence of any regulation of drug trade, the consumption of intoxicating substances had increased manifold and lots of people were hooked on nacro-drugs. It was estimated that in China the consumption of opiates each year had averaged more than 3000 tons in morphine equivalent at the beginning of the twentieth century, prior to the adoption of the first international drug control treaty (i.e. the opium convention) signed at the Hague on 23 January 1912. Similarly, in America about 90 percent of the narcotic drug consumption was for non-medical purposes4. Such an abysmal situation had forced governments to enact stringent laws to combat the growing drug menace. A variety of measures like tough laws, harsh punishment including death penalty in some countries, sanctions, decertification, crop eradication etc. were tried to tackle and curb the ever widening drug peril. Barring few countries, the three UN drug control Conventions adopted in 1961, 1971 and 1988 had also acquired universal support or allegiance. Moreover, the UN “Decade against Drug Abuse” was declared and a “war on drugs” was mounted besides promoting institutions at the regional and international levels and launching the “shared responsibility” project. These efforts, inter alia, brought about some “stability” in the consumption and production of illicit drugs in certain areas, including the western world. Nevertheless, the goals of preventing drug abuse and curbing their production, availability and supply have remained far from achieved. In fact, governments across the world have failed to meet the objectives of international treaties or conventions on the subject. Paradoxically, the use and production of illicit narco drugs and psychotropic substances have continued rising in several parts, including the South and South-East Asia. As an example, the estimated production of opium poppy at the global level had increased from 4700 tons in 2010 to 7000 tons in 2011. Likewise, the area under opium poppy cultivation increased from 191,000 hectares in 2010 to some 207,000 in 2 20115. As much as 5800 tons of estimated production and 1,31,000 hectares of illicit cultivation of opium poppy in 2011 took place in Afghanistan alone. According to reports, the total area under poppy cultivation in Afghanistan had reached a record high of 1,54,000 hectares in 2012 and 2,09,000 hectares in 2013. Similarly, “the number of households growing cannabis plant as a cash crop leapt by more than a third, to about 65,000 compared with 47,000 in 2010”. As per the estimates of the Government of Afghanistan, the livelihood of some 1,91,500 rural households in the year 2011, depended on the growing of illicit drugs mainly opium poppy6. Incidentally, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, “since 2002 the United States has spent at least $7 billion on a wide variety of programs to reduce poppy cultivation, prevent narcotics production, treat drug addiction, and improve the criminal justice system to combat drug trafficking” (www.sigar.mil/pdf/audits/sigar-14.21-Typdf). Apart from Afghanistan, approximately 51,000 ha of opium poppy, according to INCB report, was illicitly cultivated in Myanmar in 2012, representing 17 percent increase over 2011. Similarly, in Lao People’s Democratic Republic, the cultivation of illicit opium poppy increased from 1,500 hectares in 2007 to 6,800 in 2012”7. Besides this, the cultivation of illicit cannabis in Indonesia and Philippines and seizures of methamphetamine in China, Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar in 2011 were no less significant. Contrabands like heroin, Amphetamine - type stimulants (ATS) and pharmaceutical preparations have become major drugs of abuse in the East and South-East Asia. Moreover, some countries in South America produce, consume and traffic cocaine, cannabis etc; while Morocco, Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa etc. consume and traffic cannabis herb, cannabis resin and amphetamine – type stimulants. “Globally, it is estimated that in 2010 between 153 million and 300 million people aged 15-64 (3.4 – 6.6 percent of the world’s population in that age group) had used an illicit substance at least once in the previous year. The extent of illicit drug use has thus remained stable, but the estimated 15.5 million – 38.6 million problem drug users (at most 12 percent of illicit drug users), 3 including those with drug dependence and drug-use disorders, remain a particular concern”8. The most feared drugs like heroin, cocaine etc “kill around 0.2 million people each year”. What is more, “the global average prevalence of HIV among injecting drug users is estimated at 17.9% or equivalently, 2.8 million people who inject drugs are HIV positive. This means that nearly 9 one in five injecting drug users is living with HIV” . Comparatively, the most widely used illicit drug at the global level is cannabis followed by opioids (heroin, morphine, prescription opioids etc), opiates, cocaine, ATS and ecstasy. This may further be seen from the table as under: Table I Annual prevalence and number of illicit drug users at the global level in 2010 Substance Prevalence percentage Number in thousands Low High Low High Cannabis 2.6 5.0 1,19,420 2,24,490 Opioids 0.6 0.8 26,380 36,120 Opiates 0.3 0.5 12,980 20,990 Cocaine 0.3 0.4 13,200 19,510 ATS 0.3 1.2 14,340 52,540 Ecstasy 0.2 0.6 10,480 28,120 Any illicit drug 3.4 6.6 1,53,000 3,00,000 Source: UNODC, World Drug Report, United Nations, New York, 2012, P1. The drug business, which does not operate in isolation, has increased exponentially over the years. According to the World Drug Report, the illicit drug economy was about $320 billion for the year 2003. Some believe that the profit from an annual turnover of $400 to $500 billion is reaped by the syndicates that control the production and distribution of narcotics10. Further, it is maintained that with a turnover of around $500 billon, the drug economy is the third largest business, “next to petroleum and arms trade”11. The cultivation, production and trafficking of illicit narcotic drugs that have attracted worldwide consumers had flourished in different areas, including South Asia (especially Pakistan, 4 Afghanistan), South East Asia (Myanmar, Lao People’s Democratic Republic etc), Central and South America, North America (Mexico) and parts of Oceania, West Asia and Africa. The perilous drug affliction, according to reports, started unfolding around 1960s and, in terms of consumption, North America became the largest market followed by Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa and South America. However, over the decades, the illicit drug use pattern has somewhat shifted from the developed world to the developing countries.