Cracking the whip on drug smuggling, the government is set to make it mandatory for anyone to get no-objection certificate from the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) for bulk production and transport of Ephedrine and Pseudoephedrine.
The two drugs are precursors for party drugs like Methamphetamine.
The Finance Ministry has decided that bulk production and transport of these two chemicals in the country will now be only be possible after obtaining a no-objection certificate from the central anti-drugs enforcement agency NCB.
"We are going to include Ephedrine and Pseudoephedrine in the new drug control regulation. Their bulk transport and use has to be cleared by the NCB now," Joint Secretary (Revenue) M L Meena said at the release of the annual report of the International Narcotics Control Board here.
Meena said the Department of Revenue has had consultations with the trade and industry bodies in this regard, and a fresh notification will be issued soon.
Anti-narcotics agencies and police departments have regularly flagged the menace posed by these drugs as they form the bulk of their seizures and interceptions in the mainland and along India's international borders with Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar.
While five narcotic drugs were under such a regulatory mechanism till now, the Ministry plans to include few more drugs under this list and as per accepted norms stipulated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Meena said the Ministry, which has a dedicated Narcotics Control division, has also strengthened measures to regulate Codeine, an opiate which is used in cough syrup Phensedyl, notorious for its smuggling along the Bangladesh border.
The Finance Ministry is developing an online monitoring database for psychotropic substances in the country.
