On International Day Against Drug Abuse, Here Are Some Facts About This Dirty Trade

While Pablo Escobar, Joaquin Guzman and many others drug lords like them have become household names thanks to many web series that have come up over the years. Some see them heroes, but the fact is that being drug lords, they destroyed many lives.

AFP/Representational Image

Drug trafficking is a reality that can¡¯t be overlooked and there is hardly any place in the world where drug trafficking doesn¡¯t take place.

Today is 'International Day Against Drug Abuse' and we are just sharing some glaring facts about drug trafficking and how the menace has eaten deep into communities and societies across continents and countries.

1. Massive drug abuse fuelled by drug trafficking

AFP/Representational Image

According to the United Nations¡¯ ¡®World Drug Report 2017¡¯, there are 255 million users or addicts who use drugs trafficked across the world with a prevalence of 5.3 percent. And 29.5 million out of this total number is highly addicted people who engage in the high-risk consumption of drugs, for example, injection of drugs daily or those who are diagnosed with drug use disorders based on various clinical criteria.

2. Cannabis is most used drugs

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With 183.3 million addicts or users, cannabis is the most used drug in the world followed by Amphetamines, opioids and ecstasy. Drug injection which also leads to fatalities thanks to the transmission of HIV and AIDS is a massive problem and across the world, nearly 12 million people do drugs by injecting the drugs. A total of 1.6 million people who inject drugs are living with HIV while a total of 6.1 million are living with hepatitis C and 1.3 million are living with both hepatitis C and HIV.

3. 28 million healthy years of life lost as a result of drug use

TOI

According to the report, the massive amount of life is lost due to abusive drug use. The reports says that 28 million years of healthy life are lost due to drug abuse and 17 million healthy years of life lost as a result of drug use disorders. DALYs is a term used by the UN report which is the union of two terms: years of ¡°healthy¡± life lost as a result of disability plus years of life lost as a result of premature death. There is a higher rate of increase in the burden of disease from drug use disorders among women (25percent) than men (19 %).

4. Production of drugs

reuters

As per the reports, a total of 1,56,500 hectares are used to cultivate cocaine and from this, a total of 1,125 tonnes of pure cocaine is produced from this cultivation. Cannabis which is the most used drugs had seen massive seizures in 2015. As per the reports, 5781 tonnes of cannabis herb and 1536 tonnes of cannabis resin were seized across the world. As far as the synthetic drug is concerned, 132 tons, 52 tons amphetamine and 6 tons of ¡°ecstasy¡± were seized in 2015.

5. Major routes of drug trafficking in India

Indiatimes

The Golden Crescent - they call it. It's the route through which the drug cartels enter India; mainly Punjab. The clandestine land routes of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan collectively constitute the Golden Crescent, also called the silk route of drugs. Heroin, poppy husk, opium, and synthetic drugs are the four kinds of drugs entering India. In facts in 2015, BSF killed 7 smugglers and intruders and seized 344 kg heroin alongside Pakistan border in Punjab. In 2014, 361 kg heroin was seized by BSF.

The Afghan route

From being one of the most dangerous places to live at to the largest producer of opium, Afghanistan is a land where everything is shrouded in mystery. Afghanistan grows 90 percent of world's opium and if 2014 estimates are anything to go by, Afghan farmers grew opium on a whopping 244,000 hectares.

Afghans can't consume that much opium. So where does it go? India, and Punjab in particular, is one of the destinations where it is smuggled to.