South Asia is wedged between the world’s largest illicit opium producing areas, the Golden Triangle (Myanmar, Thailand and Laos) and the Golden Crescent (Pakistan Iran and Afghanistan). The region cultivates illicit opium and cannabis, produces heroin and hashish, and trafficking and diversion of precursor chemicals for drug manufacture takes place. According to UN reports, drug abusers in the region are estimated at 4 million and spreading among the youth. The region is used by traffickers as transit routes to destinations around the world.

The threat posed by drug trafficking has grown with HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis spreading through injection needle users. With a turnover around $500 Billions the drug trade is the third largest business in the world, next to only petroleum and arms trade. It presents a potent national and international security threat with the proceeds of the narcotics trade also funding terrorist activities. Narco-terror is a grim reality today, and international terrorist organizations are spreading their tentacles with the huge profits derived from the drug trade. This is especially true of South West Asia and South Asia and bears on the terrorism in this region region.

The counter measures to fight drug trafficking in South Asia can be noticed at three different levels: the international efforts, regional initiatives and mechanisms, and national efforts. The transnational nature of the drugs trade renders national efforts alone ineffective and necessitates regional and international cooperation.

At the international level, there are the 1961, 1971 and the 1988 conventions that are aimed at drug control. Of the seven states in South Asia, four are parties to the 1961 Convention and three are parties to the 1971 Convention. All except the Maldives are parties to the 1988 Convention. Besides, the United Nations Drugs Control Programme (UNDCP) and the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) have been active in raising awareness levels and political commitment in South Asia against drugs abuse and drug trafficking through specific projects and programs in cooperation with participating countries and international organizations (e.g. ICPO/Interpol, the World Customs Organization (WCO)) in the relevant aspects of drug control.

The INCB annual reports, for instance, have increased awareness about the extent of drug abuse and the volume of traffic in the region, thereby providing inputs towards drug control policies and strategy, and strengthening the resolve to fight the menace. The UNDCP launches periodical projects aimed at specific problem areas in the fight against drugs. The Regional Project for Precursor Control in the SAARC Region, for instance, was in response to the diversion of precursor chemicals in South and Southwest Asia and its impact on the illicit manufacture of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, specifically heroin, methamphetamine and methaqualone. Its major objective is to prevent diversions from legal commercial trade of these chemicals, thereby reducing illicit manufacture. The project also aimed at producing a corps of trained national drug control administrators in participating countries to develop the necessary mechanisms and procedures to furnish data on precursors. Activities of this project include awareness creation and sensitization of key regulatory and law enforcement officials and concerned institutions, assistance for the formulation of national policies and regulatory frameworks through a series of national policy-making workshops, training of personnel and provision of equipment. It also organized sub-regional and regional conferences and workshops and assistance for creation of information networks, national and regional.

At the regional level, the South Asian countries negotiated the SAARC Convention on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances on 23 November, 1990 and all these countries have since ratified it. The Convention aimed at ensuring implementation of the provisions of the 1988 Convention, especially those relating to establishment of offences, sanctions, jurisdiction, information sharing, prosecution, extradition, confiscation, mutual legal assistance and eradication of illicit cultivation and demand for narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. Despite several optimistic INCB assessments regarding the improving levels of cooperation between countries in the region, the latest report of the INCB lamentably stated that drug trafficking in the region continues unabated. The report also stated that the abuse of heroin and other drugs like cannabis, opium, and methamphetamines in the region have increased.

The problem with drug control efforts in South Asia is that despite signing regional and bilateral agreements for cooperation, the political differences in their relationships hinders effective cooperation. The SAARC convention largely remains on paper like other bilateral agreements between these countries. Issue specific and problem based cooperation, despite other differences is vital. South Asia must work towards such cooperation, which will help in tackling specific concerns like drugs control but also promote an overall spirit of regional solidarity to strengthen cooperation in the region.