Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has assured India’s total support in the growing global nexus between terrorism and the excessive flow of money from drug trafficking and cross border crimes.
He also informed that a South Asia Regional Intelligence and Coordination Center with India’s neighboring countries as co-founders will soon come up to combat drug –related crimes in the region.
“As supplier of licit opiate raw material to the world and traditional licit opium cultivator for centuries, India is fully conscious of its own responsibility to eradicate any illicit cultivation, reduce demand and put in preventive and enforcement measures” he said.
The Minister maintained that the issue requires national efforts, and alone can’t deal with the drug issue adequately and bilateral relations were essential.
The Saricc, or the South Asia Regional Intelligence and Coordination Centre, will have as members India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives. It will help these countries share intelligence, and coordinate operations against such crimes.
Jaitley also talked about the uniform and simplified laws in May last year where they removed the regulatory barrier to make drugs and substitutes available for palliative care, pain relief and cancer patients, as also drug abuse victims.
He said three global treaties have served well in these aspects — the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the Convention on Psychotropic Substances and the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.
