Another reason to say ‘no’ to drugs: adulteration

Aditya Kaul, Divyesh Singh & Rahul Chandawarkar

Recent seizures by drug enforcement agencies across the country, including Mumbai and New Delhi, suggest that certain drugs, especially heroin, are being adulterated by drug cartels.
Narcotics agencies suggest that traffickers have been mixing pure heroin with sedatives and anti-depressants such as Paracetamol and Alprazolam in order to meet plummeting domestic supplies and maximise profits.

“A lot of the heroin we seized in 2009 was found to be adulterated with Paracetamol and Alprazolam,” said a senior official of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

According to Mukta Puntambekar, the deputy director at Muktangan Rehabilitation Centre, the mixing of cocaine or heroine with sedatives poses greater hazards to health than ‘single’ drugs.

Mixing can lead to an overdose, thereby causing deeper complications than what we see amongst patients who are simple addicts. It may cause an all-organ breakdown and even death.”

A senior official from Mumbai Police’s Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) said, “Peddlers dupe the buyers by selling the adulterated drugs at the same rate as the pure samples, and the concoction often gives a greater kick.”

In a recent seizure at Kalyan, ANC officials discovered that heroin had been mixed with Alprazolam. Interestingly, Alprazolam, when mixed with heroin, can only be detected if one does a chemical analysis.

In August, in West Bengal, the NCB seized 8.5 kg of heroin  adulterated with sedatives. They were adulterated in a lab in Asansol. In UP alone, over the past few months, the NCB had seized nearly 20 kg of adulterated heroin. 

The drift towards adulteration over the past few years is being attributed to three major factors. First, the number of licenses awarded by the government for legal cultivation of opium in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan had gone down considerably because of stricter norms and the requirement of a “minimum yield” which the opium farmers were not able to meet.
Second, government agencies have clamped down heavily on diversion of licit produce towards illicit production of heroin.

Third, but most important, the adulteration of available heroin guarantees huge profits to drug dealers as the cost of adulterants is much lower than that of pure heroin. “Surveys carried out by NGOs in the past have shown that consumption of Alprazolam and Paracetamol have gone up by as much as 60 to 80 per cent,” said a senior anti-narcotics enforcement official.

Anti-narcotics officials suggest that manufacture of heroin from opium and its subsequent adulteration is being carried out in Jharkhand, West Bengal, Manipur and Nagaland. They believe that expertise for developing heroin from opium and then adulterating it is available in UP, in areas like Barabanki, Ghazipur and Faizabad. “These areas in UP are where, earlier, a lot of diversion would take place from licit produce of opium. That’s how the expertise is available in these areas.

Now, because of a drought of heroin because of cancellation of licenses in these regions, this expertise is being exported to states like West Begal, Jharkhand, Manipur and Nagaland. They make adulterated heroin for domestic use and also for smuggling out through the Bangladesh border,” said a senior NCB official.

Enforcement officials also confirmed several instances where drug dealers are mixing gun powder with heroin to make it burn faster. “When taken through a cigarette, gun powder helps the stuff burn faster,” explained a senior NCB official.

Another drug which is highly in demand is cocaine. ANC officials say that cocaine is generally mixed with sodium bicarbonate powder and then an anaesthetic spray called Speed. The worst kind of adulteration is, however, found in hashish where suppliers have been using several new methods and techniques to increase the quantity.

An officer from the ANC said, “Hashish is first mixed with powdered cow dung, and then with mustard oil so that the mushiness and smell of the drug remains intact.”

Crushed seeds of marijuana, converted into soft pellets known as ‘Anta’, are mixed with brown sugar to increase its quantity. The bigger suppliers also sell to their clients, along with the ingredients that are used for adulteration, the drugs themselves at discounted rates. This adds to their and the dealers’ income. Consumption of drugs by itself is a health hazard, but consumption of adulterated drugs can have deadlier consequences, in a shorter period.

According to psychiatrist Dr Yusuf Machiswala, who has dealt with several drug addicts, the sedatives mixed with drugs are generally sleeping tablets which, if taken in excess, can prove fatal. “Cocaine is generally mixed with sleeping pills such as diazepam, lorazepam, nitarzepam, and even menthol. These can cause respiratory problems, sudden drop in blood pressure, and inability to control feelings like aggression and anger,” said Machiswala.