Legal opium production in India

Legal cultivation of opium for medicinal purposes is carried out in India, only in selected areas, under free licensing conditions. India is the world's largest manufacturer of legal opium for the pharmaceutical industry according to the CIA World Factbook.[1] Legal cultivation for medical use is permissible within the ambit of United Nations, Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961.

Background

The Government Opium and Alkaloid Factories (GOAF) is an Indian government-owned organisation. Its headquarter is located in New Delh. Each year the Central Government notifies the selected tracts where such cultivation will be permitted, and the general conditions for eligibility of the licence. The essential condition for issue of licence is, fulfillment of minimum qualifying yield (MQY) criterion, specified in number of kilograms per hectare. Cultivators who have tendered at least this quantity in the previous year are eligible for licence. The licence among other conditions, specifies the maximum area in which the opium crop can be sown. The crop year starts from 1 September and ends on 30 October each year. Some place where opium is grown are Pratapgarh in Rajasthan; Mandsaur, Ratlam, Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh; and Barabanki, Bareilly, Lucknow & Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh. For the crop year 2008-09, total number of licences issued was 44821, while MQY was fixed at 56 kg/ha for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and 49 kg/ha for Uttar Pradesh.[2] Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN), is responsible for overall supervision of cultivation as per provisions of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (India), 1985 and Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Rules (India), 1985. Officers of CBN measure each field and exercise controls to ensure that no excess cultivation takes place. ndia is one of the few countries that legally grow opium poppy and the only country which legally produces opium gum. Opium poppy (Papaver somniferous) plant is the source of opium gum which contains several indispensable alkaloids such as morphine, codeine and thebaine. Morphine is the best analgesic in the world. In case of extreme and excruciating pain such as that of terminally ill cancer patients, nothing alleviates the suffering except morphine. Codeine is commonly used in manufacture of cough syrups.

The NDPS Act empowers the Central Government to permit and regulate cultivation of opium poppy for medical and scientific purposes. The Government of India notifies the tracts where opium cultivation can be licensed as well as the General Conditions for issuance of license every year. These notifications are commonly referred to as Opium Policies. Opium cultivation is permitted in the notified tracts in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The General Conditions, among others, include a Minimum Qualifying Yield (MQY) to be tendered by the cultivators of each of these three states, to be eligible for license in the succeeding year.

The Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN), Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh) under the Narcotics Commissioner issues licenses to the farmers to cultivate opium poppy. Each field of every cultivator is individually measured by officers of the CBN to ensure that they do not exceed the licensed area. The cultivators are required to tender their entire opium produced to the CBN and they are paid a price at the rates decided by the Government. The CBN sets up weighment centres during the harvest season and the cultivators bring their opium to these centres and tender the opium to the CBN.Opium gum produced by the cultivators is procured by the officers of Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN) and transferred to the Government Opium and Alkaloid Works (GOAW). There are two GOAWs one in Ghazipur (Uttar Pradesh.) and the other in Neemuch (Madhya Pradesh). Each GOAW has an Opium Factory and an Alkaloid Plant. The Opium Factories dry the opium for export and for use in the Alkaloid Plants. The Alkaloid Plants extract alkaloids from opium and sell them to manufacturers of pharmaceutical preparations.Drugs whose manufacture is completely prohibited: Crude cocaine, ecgonine and diacetylmorphine (commonly known as heroin) and their salts.

Drugs which can be manufactured only by the Government Opium and Alkaloid Works or when a license is issued if the Government determines it to be in public interest to issue a license: Morphine, codeine, dionine, thebaine, dihydrocodeinoe, dihydrocodeine, acetyldihydrocodeine, acetyldihydrocodeinone, dihydromorphine, dihydromorphinone, dihydrohydroxy codeinone, pholcodine and their respective salts.

Drugs which can be manufactured after obtaining a license: Narcotic drugs other than the above can be manufactured after obtaining a license from the Narcotics Commissioner. The Narcotics Commissioner issues a license only if the conditions are fulfilled including producing a manufacturing license from the Drugs and Cosmetics Act/Rules from the State Drugs controller and the licenses to be obtained from the State Government under the State NDPS Rules for possession, use and sale of narcotic drugs.Psychotropic substances have several medical uses but they are also liable to be abused. Hence, manufacture of psychotropic substances is regulated. All psychotropic substances have been listed in the Schedule to the NDPS Act, 1985. These may categorized into:

Psychotropic substances whose manufacture is completely prohibited:

These substances are listed in Schedule I of the NDPS Rules, 1985. Thus, this is a sub-set of the List of Psychotropic Substances in the Schedule to the NDPS Act.

Psychotropic substances whose manufacture is permitted but only for export:

These substances are listed in Schedule III of the NDPS Rules, 1985. This is also a sub-set of the List of Psychotropic Substances in the Schedule to the NDPS Act. These are substances which are not medically used in India but they are so used in some other countries. Hence, any company interested in manufacturing these can do so but only for export.

Psychotropic substances which can be manufactured for sale in India or for export:

Any psychotropic substance not listed in Schedule I and Schedule III of the NDPS Rules, 1985 can be manufactured (for sale in India or for export) after obtaining a license from the State Drugs Controller under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and Rules. Thus, if anyone manufactures a psychotropic substance without a license from the State Drugs Controller, he will also be liable for punishment under the NDPS Act since the NDPS Rules require that a license should be obtained.


More information about GOAW can be seen at GOAW

Licensing other companies to manufacture alkaloids of opium

Of the various Alkaloids, Codeine Phosphate is required in the largest quantity. The total production of codeine phosphate by the two GOAWs is not sufficient to meet India’s needs. Hence, we import Codeine Phosphate every year.

The Government has relaxed the rules to allow private manufacturers to be licensed for production of alkaloids from Indian opium, if it is in public interest to do so and in consonance with India’s obligations under International treaties, conventions or protocols. Further, Government has also initiated the process of allowing private companies to produce Concentrate of Poppy Straw (CPS) and manufacture alkaloids from the same.

The NDPS Act, 1985 empowers the State Governments to permit and regulate supply of opium to addicts where such supply is a medical necessity.

Opium addicts registered with the State Governments are supplied opium by the Governments. The Government Opium and Alkaloid Works at Ghazipur and Neemuch sell opium to the State Governments who, in turn, supply it to the addicts.

Overview Procedural safeguards and immunities under the NDPS Act The extraction of opium takes place during the months of February and March. Farmers still use the traditional method where they lance each poppy capsule manually with a special blade like tool, a process known as lancing. The lancing is done in late afternoon or evenings. The opium latex which oozes out and congeals in the night is scraped and collected manually the next morning. Each poppy capsule is given three to four lancings. All such opium collected is required to be necessarily tendered to the government, at specially set up opium collection centres, in early April. Opium is checked for quality and consistency and weighed at the centres. Prices are paid which are fixed by the Government in slab rates, depending on the quality and quantity of opium tendered. 90% of payment is made to the cultivators, directly in their bank account through e-payment method. Final payment is made after laboratory testing at opium factory after confirming that no adulterants have been found.[3] All the opium procured is sent to Government Opium and Alkaloid Factories situated at Neemuch and Ghazipur. Opium is dried and processed at these factories for export and is also used for extraction of various products like Codeine phosphate, Thebaine, Morphine sulphate, Noscapine but Heroin is illegal.[4]

References
  1. "CIA World Factbook". CIA.
  2. "Opium Poppy - an Overview". Central Bureau of Narcotics. Retrieved 2009-03-16.
  3. David Mansfield. "An analysis of licit opium cultivation:India and Turkey". Archived from the original on 2009-03-22. Retrieved 2009-03-16.
  4. "Opium - An overview". Government Opium & Alkaloid Factories. Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2009-03-16.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_and_Alkaloid_Works https://dor.gov.in/narcoticdrugspsychotropic/production-opium-and-opiates

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