Published on: May 21, 2016

We have generally relied on the quantity of morphine going out of the Government Opium and Alkaloid Works (GOAW) as the index of access to pain relief in India. Practically, the whole amount is utilised in India and though, this is not the perfect way of assessing consumption, it is still a reasonably reliable index.

We are very glad to report to you that the trend is clearly positive. The first time in the last quarter century, the consumption of morphine in the country went up above 300kg. In fact, it was 329kg in 2015.

We thank Mr A. K. Saxena of GOAW for providing the statistics and all at Department of Revenue of Government of India for the support.

Reacting to our blog, Shri Romesh Bhattacharji, former Narcotics Commissioner of India tweeted that though it has reached an all-time high of the last quarter of a century, it is still way below the pre-NDPS Act, 1984 level of 411 Kg! Sobering thought!

Well, better days are coming, we are sure! (Wish they would come a bit faster, though.)