Nothwithstanding government orders that the desi Viagra should not be sold without prescription, sildenafil citrate, the wonder drug for male impotence, is being marketed by various Indian companies and can be bought across the counter without too many hassles. Thanks to the easy availability of the drug, life is easy for a number of Indians who suffer from sexual dysfunction. When multinational products are flooding the Indian market, date rape drugs may make their appearance soon in the country's metropolises. Rohypnol and ketamine, also known as roofies, forget pills, Mexican valium and so on, are a powerful depressant of the central nervous system. Rohypnol is prescribed in Europe as a sleeping pill or a pre-anaesthetic for surgery. It dissolves quickly and within a few minutes induces sleepiness. Users often pass out and wake up hours later with no memory of what happened in between. Since there is enormous scope of it being used on an unwilling partner in sex, its sale is prohibited in the United States. But most users get it from Europe, Mexico and other Latin American countries. It's a bargain But these will be new entrants in the Indian market. India otherwise is already becoming an important drug transit centre for the export of opium and its precious extract, heroin. While a large portion of the opium produced in the country is used for pharmaceutical reasons, a huge quantity of illicit opium and heroin produced in the Golden Triangle (comprising Myanmar, Thailand and Laos) and the Golden Crescent (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran) is being exported to the US and other countries through India. The margin of profit from the Golden Triangle's heroin trade is so high that even top level functionaries in the countries involved succumb to temptation. In 1990, the US indicted a high level official of the Thai police on four counts of heroin trafficking. In 1992, a prominent leader of the Justice and Unity Party, was refused visa on suspicion of his links with the drug mafia based in Myanmar. In 1996, a former member of parliament, Thanong Siripreechapong, was extradited to the US to face charges of his participation in the Thai-US smuggling racket. On the border The Golden Triangle and the Golden Crescent together account for 90 per cent of the world's illicit opium production. The taliban-controlled Afghanistan is the main source of opium in the Golden Crescent. But it is Pakistan which serves as the centre for the extraction of heroin from opium. Those involved in this trade in the country wield enormous clout. It is said that anyone controlling the poppy fields, Karachi and the road that links the two could be rich enough to control the entire country without the help of the army. This might soon be the case with India. Its porous borders with Pakistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Nepal have already become crucial to the international drug trade. Naturally drug abuse in the country, the Northeast especially, has reached alarming proportions. There is a corresponding rise in the number of hepatitis, tuberculosis and AIDS cases. These eastern states are close to the Myanmar border through which a fairly large load of drugs produced in the Golden Triangle pass through. Unless the Indian authorities sit up and take notice of the menace, drug smuggling will go on adding to the problems of the government.