Rumi Akter, Research Assistant (International Affairs), Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs (BILIA)
Recently, the Shahjalal International Airport of Bangladesh is deemed to be the home of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), a new kind of drugs which is popular as “Khat” in Bangla. On 31 August this year, an amount of 466kg of the drug was seized from the airport by the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC). At the same day, another lot of 394kg of NPS was seized from a warehouse in Shantinagar named “Nawshin Enterprise”. Since the last eve of August, this illegal drug trafficking of NPS has been seized by the law enforcement body. On 11 September 2018, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police captured another lot of 1600kg of NPS at the Dhaka airport. All these consignments come from the Ethiopia, a country in the Horn of Africa.
Hence, NPS has become a new form of threat for the Bangladeshi after the spread of yaba.
What is NPS?
NPS is often incorrectly marketed as “legal highs”. It resembles the tea leaves. This is why it is carried under the level of green tea. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), NPS have been known in the market by terms such as “legal highs”, “bath salts” and “research chemicals”. Under the Narcotics Control Act 1990 of Bangladesh, this drug is categorized as a “B” category drug. The major producing countries of NPS are from Africa– Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia and Yemen from Asia.
Impact of NPS on Human Health:
According to the UNODC, NPS drug is proliferating at an unprecedented rate. It is also posing serious public health challenges. The main effects of NPS can be brought under the four categories:
• Stimulants (like mephedrone, naphyrone) act like amphetamines, cocaine, or ecstasy, in that they can make people feel energised, physically active, fast-thinking, very chatty and euphoric.
• Downers or sedatives (like GBH/GBL, methoxetamine) act similarly to benzodiazepines (drugs like diazepam or Valium), or GHB/GBL, in that they can make human beign feel euphoric, relaxed or sleepy.
• Hallucinogens or psychedelics (like NBOMe drugs) act like LSD, magic mushrooms, ketamine and methoxetamine. They create altered perceptions and can make you hallucinate (seeing and/or hearing things that aren’t there). They can induce feelings of euphoria, warmth, ‘enlightenment’ and being detached from the world around.
• Synthetic cannabinoids (like Spice or Black Mamba): act similarly to cannabis. The effects of these are similar cannabis intoxication: relaxation, altered consciousness, disinhibition, a state of being energised and euphoria.
Legal Bindings for NPS:
The legal status of NPS can vary from country to country as it is not controlled by the International Drug Control Conventions. The UNODC states that, up to December 2017, over 60 countries have implemented legal responses to control NPS, with many countries having used or amended existing legislation and others having used innovative legal instruments. In Bangladesh, the supreme law regarding drug abuse and prevention is the Narcotics Control Act 1990. Under the section 9, this act prohibits import, export, sale, purchase, manufacture, processing, transport, possession, use or any other kinds of the operations except for medicinal, scientific, or legitimate industrial purposes under license, permit or pass. Besides the Narcotics Control Act, there are also other laws and rules related to the prevention and control of drug smuggling such as– The Special Power Act 1975, Custom Act, The Narcotics Control Rules 1999, and The National Narcotics Control Board Fund Rules 2001. Apart from this, Bangladesh is also the signatory to all the three UN Conventions of 1961, 1971, 1988 and the SAARC Convention on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, 1990.
Concluding Remarks:
Keeping the harmful impact of NPS on human health, the UNODC should urge the international community to entrench the control of NPS under the International Drug Control Conventions. In Bangladesh, the trend of illegal drug trafficking seems to occur mainly from its neighbouring countries and the Southeast Asian region. However, the very recent NPS consignments come from the African countries. So, is the new form of drug challenging the Bangladesh government war on drugs?! To boomerang the challenge, the law enforcement agency should be active the way they are now.