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Rebooting Opium Strategy

Posted on April 8, 2021 by admin1  52

In News

Recently, the Central government has decided to rope in the private sector to commence production of concentrated poppy straw from India’s opium crop.

Background

  • Two cultivation trials were conducted by two private firms in the crop years of 2017-18 and 2018-19.
  • One of the firms purchased poppy straw of locally cultivated crops to analyse the yield from the same crop with the concentrated poppy straw (CPS). They also cultivated CPS with hydroponic, aeroponic methods under a greenhouse environment.
  • The final reports were received in February 2020 and June 2020, respectively and showed higher extraction of alkaloids using the CPS.
    • The entire plant is processed with its stalk to extract the drug in the CPS method, which leads to higher extraction.
  • Also, the imported seeds of certain CPS varieties worked effectively in Indian fields and the narcotic raw material yield was much higher than of those used currently.

About the Move

  • The Finance Ministry has decided to switch to new technologies of poppy cultivation and alkaloids extraction.
  • It will also produce CPS with the participation of the private sector.
  • However, to materialise these changes, the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 needs to be amended.
    • The Department of Revenue has decided to appoint a consultant to help frame the bidding parameters and concession agreements for the same and is required to
      • Help frame the modalities for this endeavour.
      • Develop an appropriate model including public-private partnership (PPP).
      • Advise on the changes needed to the rules and laws to facilitate the changes.
      • Recommend security measures to protect the crop and the final product.
  • The firms from the trials faced legal hassles while getting relevant licences from State governments for manufacturing bulk alkaloids. This process also needs to be smoothed out
  • Significance: The move will boost the yield of alkaloids in the country.

Opium Poppy

  • Scientific Name: Papaver somniferum
  • It is a medicinal herb that produces a variety of alkaloids such as morphine, codeine, etc. and is best known as a pain reliever in modern medicine.
  • It is used for a range of treatments, from post-operative pain management and palliative care for terminal cancer patients to treating accident-related trauma and chronic pain syndromes.
  • Under the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961), India is among the 12 countries in the world allowed to grow opium poppy for medicinal use.
  • However, India is the only nation allowed to extract gum opium, in which skilled workers manually extract the latex that contains 70% of the morphine synthesized by the plant by lancing its flower-bearing pod.
    • Countries such as Australia, France, China and Turkey, which grow legal opium, use a CPS method.
  • The extraction process is carried out at facilities controlled by the Department of Revenue under the Ministry of Finance.
  • Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are the three traditionally opium growing States, where poppy crop cultivation is allowed based on licences issued annually by the Central Bureau of Narcotics.

Alkaloids

  • These are any of a class of naturally occurring organic nitrogen-containing bases and have diverse and important physiological effects on humans and other animals.
  • Well-known alkaloids include morphine, strychnine, quinine, ephedrine, and nicotine.
  • Alkaloids are found primarily in plants and are especially common in certain families of flowering plants.
  • They have diverse medicinal properties.
  • India exports alkaloids to several countries.

                                                                   (Image Courtesy: Cayman)

Source: TH


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