Precursor chemicals a concern in anti-narcotics drive: NCB

Psychoactive substances and precursor chemicals remain a source of "concern" for anti-narcotics enforcement agencies and other stakeholders in the country and across the globe, a top official today said.
Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) chief R R Bhatnagar, while speaking during a discussion on 'Illegal Drugs in India and the 2016 Global Drug Policy Review' organised by Brookings India here, said India has put in a controlled regime to combat drugs abuse and this has shown positive results as seizures of psychoactive substances like Ketamine have gone down in the last few years.
He said the concerns, both for the world and India, are about the usage of new psychoactive substances and precursors for drugs abuse.

While psychoactive substances are those chemical substances that alter brain functioning and result in alterations of perception or consciousness, precursors are widely used to make illicit drugs.
Bhatnagar, a 1983-batch IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre has recently taken over as the NCB Director General, said control of Ketamine drug has improved "substantially" and a regime has been put in place by the government to monitor the export and import of precursor chemicals.
He also said agencies working in the anti-narcotics abuse domain are witnessing a "reversal" in trends of the illicit trade and some of the traditional routes are getting reversed.

The picture is changing in this regard and that is a fact, Bhatnagar said.

The NCB chief said all stakeholders working in this area need to counter the harm caused to the society from drug abuse.
The relation between the volume of interdiction of drugs and figures of trafficking, he said, also needs to be seen more rationally to correctly analyse the drug abuse problem.
Bhatnagar said there cannot be "quick fix" solutions to the narcotics abuse problem and a holistic picture has to be taken in order to effectively combat the menace.