NEW DELHI - India plans to open up trade
in opiate-based pharmaceuticals to private
players, with the aim of enriching foreign
exchange coffers while also tackling drug
trafficking.
The government has for a
half-century kept strict control of the entire
process of opium production, including pricing and
the disposal of psychotropic substances. However,
under the new National Policy on Narcotic Drugs
and Psychotropic Substances, private players will
be allowed to extract narcotic alkaloids such as
morphine and codeine.
Under the previous
guidelines, licensed farmers were only allowed to
sell poppy plants to two state-run opium and
alkaloid factories that produce poppy straw
concentrate. Now, reputable firms with
an annual turnover of
over of US$20 million will now be able to buy
poppy plants directly and manufacture their own
medicines.
"The ultimate aim is to
graduate to mechanization of the extraction
process as per international best practices, and
to avoid illegal trafficking," a Health Ministry
source told Asia Times Online. The official added
that a comprehensive rehabilitation package will
be worked out for the opium-producing farmers
before the entire process is mechanized.
The new policy also includes measures that
aim at curbing drug abuse and improving the
treatment, rehabilitation and social
re-integration of addicts. "Implementation of the
provisions of the policy will lead to reduction of
crime, improvement in public health and uplifting
of the social milieu," the Finance Ministry said
in a statement.
According to a United
Nations report released in 2011, up to 272 million
people or 6.1% of the world's population aged
15-64 used illicit substances at least once in the
previous year.
To keep the illicit
cultivation of poppy and cannabis in check, the
new policy also recommends use of satellite
imagery for detection and eradication, and the
development of alternate means of livelihood in
pockets of traditional illicit cultivation. India
is one of the world's three biggest producers of
opium (also known as black gold), alongside Turkey
and Afghanistan. It is also a primary exporter of
alkaloids and caters to more than half of the
global demand.
Opium - derived from the
word "opios", meaning vegetable juice - has
enormous industrial value as a raw material for
morphine (the final product in the extraction
process) and codeine, which are used by
pharmaceutical companies for a raft of medicinal
preparations.
Medical experts, however,
are cautious about the government initiative,
fearing it might have a domino effect on drug
pricing. “While the objective of the new policy is
laudable, it might escalate prices of essential
palliative medication for cancer patients," Dr M R
Rajagopal, palliative care expert from Trivandrum
Institute of Palliative Sciences, told the media.
The specialist said morphine is currently
available for 1-5 rupees (US$0.02-$0.10) per 10
mg. "But if prices go up, it would mean reduced
availability for poor patients because most of
them have no resources left even for the cheapest
medicines by the time they land in palliative care
clinics," he added.
However, the media has
noted that an increase in the number of drug
manufacturers could actually improve the
availability of morphine. "Some medicines such as
morphine are currently in short supply in the
domestic market and increased production will
change the dynamics of the trade in favor of
better availability and lower drug costs. This can
save hundreds of lives apart from saving the
government precious money," India Today wrote in
an editorial.
"It is not fair to always
assume that once private players come in, prices
have to go up," Dr Nagesh Simha, president of the
Indian Association of Palliative Care, told the
newspaper.
Despite stringent restrictions
by global bodies like the United Nations
Commission on Narcotic Drugs, some countries
continue to grow opium poppies illegally. For
instance, raw opium is illegally cultivated as a
cash crop in Pakistan despite US efforts including
checkpoints and .
In India, poppy fields
are strictly regulated by the government. Across
vast swathes of North India (primarily Rajasthan,
Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh), poppy fields
produce tons of precious opium before being
shipped to major pharmaceutical companies around
the world.
Each poppy plant branches near
the ground and usually attains a height of 60 to
150 centimeters. The plants flower during May to
June. The flower ranges in color from white and
purple to red and orange. After fertilization, the
flower petals fall off and the fruit, known as the
"poppy capsule", can be seen. It reaches the size
of a small pomegranate and looks quite similar to
it as well. A single poppy plant bears about five
to eight poppy capsules.
According to
existing regulations, narcotics in India have to
be procured from licensed farmers strictly under
the surveillance of Central Narcotics Bureau. The
narcotics are then shipped to one of the two
processing plants in the country - at Ghazipur in
Uttar Pradesh or Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh.
Once the opium reaches the factories,
hundreds of workers turn it into a blackish opium
paste kept in huge vats. For several weeks, the
laborers diligently stir and fold the tar-like
substance, drying it in the hot sun until it dries
up almost completely. Once the opium is dry, it is
repacked and readied for export. A small portion
is refined chemically at the factory to be sold
directly to Indian drug manufacturers for use in
medicines.
Neeta Lal is a widely
published writer/commentator who contributes to
many reputed national and international print and
Internet publications.
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