International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

• 28 Jun 2022

For Prelims: International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan/Drugs-Free India Campaign , World Drug Report 2022

For Mains: Problem of drug abuse and related Initiatives, World Drug Report 2022, Government Policies & Interventions

Why in News?

Every Year, 26^th June is celebrated as the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking or World Drug Day.

• UNODC World Drug Report 2022 was released on the occasion of the world Drug Day.
  • UNODC World Drug Report 2022 highlights trends on cannabis post-legalization, environmental impacts of illicit drugs, and drug use among women and youth.

What is the World Drug Day all About?

• Theme:
  • Addressing drug challenges in health and humanitarian crises.
    • The focus of United Nations Office On Drug And Crime (UNODC) is to spread awareness about it so that a world free of drug abuse can be created.
• History:
  • On 7^th December 1987, the United Nations General Assembly decided to observe 26^th June as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
  • It did so to strengthen their efforts in order to achieve the goal of making the society free of drug abuse.
• Significance:
  • The focus is to create awareness about the hazardous impacts of drug abuse on the society and to create a world without it.
    • In 2022, the world continues to witness widespread humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Ukraine and elsewhere, while the Covid-19 pandemic is still a major global health crisis.
    • The synthetic drug crisis also requires nimble and adaptable solutions.

What are the Related Initiatives?

• Indian:
  • Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan/Drugs-Free India Campaign
  • National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction
  • Narco-Coordination Centre
    • National Fund to Control Drug Abuse
• Global Initiatives:
  • Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961.
  • The Convention on Psychotropic Substances, 1971.
  • The UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, 1988.
    • India is a signatory to all three and has enacted the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.
  • Every year, the UN publishes a World Drug Report, Global Drug Policy Index.

What are the Key Highlights of the World Drug Report 2022?

• India:
  • India’s Market and users are likely to Increase:
    • India is one of the world's single largest opiate markets in terms of users and would likely be vulnerable to increased supply.
      • This is because of the intensification of trafficking in opiates originating in Afghanistan may be taking place eastwards, in addition to southwards and westwards along the traditional Balkan route.
    • Consequences could range from expanded use to increased levels of trafficking and associated organised crime.
  • Seizure of Opium:
    • 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 in the same year at 0.7 tons.
    • About 3.8 tons of heroin were seized in 2020 in India, the fifth-highest in the world.
      • 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.
• World:
  • Increase in Drug Usage:
    • Around 284 million people, aged 15-64 years, used drugs worldwide in 2020, a 26 % increase over the previous decade.
  • Cocaine Manufacturing is on High:
    • Cocaine manufacture worldwide was at a record high in 2020, growing 11 % from 2019 to 1,982 tons.
    • Cocaine seizures also increased despite the Covid-19 pandemic to a record 1,424 tons in 2020.
    • Opium production worldwide grew 7 % between 2020 and 2021 to 7,930 tons predominantly due to an increase in production in Afghanistan.
    • However, the global area under opium poppy cultivation fell by 16 %t to 2,46,800 ha in the same period.
  • Role of Women:
    • Women remain in the minority of drug users globally yet tend to increase their rate of drug consumption and progress to drug use disorders more rapidly than men do.
    • Women now represent an estimated 45-49 % of users of amphetamines and non-medical users of pharmaceutical stimulants, pharmaceutical opioids, sedatives, and tranquilizers.
    • Women played a wide range of roles in the global cocaine economy, including cultivating coca, transporting small quantities of drugs, selling to consumers, and smuggling into prisons.
  • Misperceptions depriving people of treatment:
    • Misperceptions regarding the magnitude of the problem and the associated harms are depriving people of care and treatment and driving young people towards harmful behaviours.
  • Factors:
    • The Cannabis legalisation in parts of the world appears to have accelerated daily use and related health impacts.

What are the Recommendations of the Report?

• There is need to devote the necessary resources and attention to addressing every aspect of the world drug problem, including the provision of evidence-based care to all who need it, and we need to improve the knowledge base on how illicit drugs relate to other urgent challenges, such as conflicts and environmental degradation.
• It is needed that the policy makers across the world to tailor holistic drug-supply reduction strategies encompassing economic development and alternative livelihoods in countries where coca bush is illicitly cultivated.
• Drug policy approaches should be integrated into conflict and peacebuilding responses in conflict areas.
• Governments should encourage more complex and deep investigation of transnational crimes, aimed at revealing and dismantling related financial flows.

Source: IE