SIX years later, some progress appears finally to have been made on the ephedrine scandal. On Friday, the Special Court for the Control of Narcotic Substances in Islamabad charged nine men accused of using influence to allow two Multan-based pharmaceutical companies to exceed the permitted allocations. To recall, in March 2011, then federal minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin told the National Assembly that the government intended to investigate the alleged allocation of 9,000kg of ephedrine to two pharmaceutical companies (which, it was subsequently found, had not kept a record of the consumption of the substance), against rules capping the permitted quantity at 500kg. Given that amongst those charged are high-profile personalities such as Mr Shahabuddin himself, and Ali Musa Gilani who is the son of former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, the authorities deserve commendation for having continued to pursue the case.

Guilt or innocence will be decided by the court system. For the state, though, alarm bells ought to be ringing. Ephedrine is a routine pharmaceutical ingredient, but is also on the list of internationally controlled substances because it is key to the production of methamphetamine, commonly abused across the world as a recreational drug. This is not the only time that allocations of substances have been played with, or chemicals misused. In earlier decades, it was found that the textiles sector was becoming a source for the black market for acetic anhydride — a common chemical that is key to the conversion of opium into heroin. That led to tight controls and book-keeping requirements being imposed on the industry. But as recently as 2014, the Anti-Narcotics Force seized substantial hauls of the chemical, some of it reportedly en route to Afghanistan. Two consignments of ephedrine were also seized by the ANF’s Lahore Directorate the same year. Beyond the ephedrine case, Pakistan needs to wake up to the fact that it is in danger of becoming a significant source of trafficked substances — a status that it must take urgent measures to avoid.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2017