War against psychotropic drugs : India’s policy conundrum
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Ngangom Junior Luwang (Sr Advocate Supreme Court of India)
Contd from previous issue
in India’s National Policy on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, 2012:
“Synthetic and semi-synthetic drugs are illicitly manufactured in clandestine laboratories (commonly known as clan labs) the world over and India is no exception. However, the type of clans and types of drugs that they manufacture vary from place to place. Traditionally, clandestine laboratories in India are of two kinds–small, makes-shift manufacturing faci- lities which process opium into heroin and large industrial scale facilities which manufacture methaqualone.”
“Diversion of licit pharmaceuticals containing narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances for abuse has been a significant problem in India. Preparations containing drugs such as codeine, buprenorphine, diazepam and alprazolam are commonly abused”.
“As precursors are difficult to produce, illicit drug manufacturers usually obtain them by diverting from licit production and trade of precursors. Countries with large chemical and pharmaceutical industries like India are natural targets for traffickers of precursors.” India’s policy framework needs to be re-calibrated, inter alia, by going for a stricter criminal liabilities for pharmaceutical companies in case of diversion of preparations containing ephedrine from domestic distribution channels and extraction of ephedrine there-from for ATS.
7. India’s legal system is falling short of the advancement of technology for illegal trafficking of narcotic drugs and narcotic substances.
For example, there is a huge increase in use of dark web and crypto-currency such as bitcoin by drug peddlers and buyers. Even drones have become tools not only for war or espionage or surveys, but also for shipment of drugs across borders. Such an issue has been duly recognized by the Hon’ble High Court of Punjab & Haryana in CRM-M- 20005 of 2025 (Robert Masih Vs. State of Punjab) in its Order of September 22, 2025, wherein it has been observed that there “is steady increase in cross border smuggling of illicit drugs through drones these days”.
8. India’s narcotic drugs policy needs streamlining of data management system on relevant strains of narcotic drugs & psychotropic substances business like number of Controlled Delivery operations with countries bordering India’s border states, details of implementation of Alternative Development Programmes, diversion of narcotic and psychotropic synthetic and semi-synthetic substances from their licit sources with specific action taken reports, abuse of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances in educational institutions, food joints, prisons etc.
The case in point is that though Amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) were reported to be widely consumed in India, there was no official data on consumers of such illegal substances 15 . Moreover, though the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Ministry of Home Affairs, has reportedly identified top 100 drug traffickers/kingpins and has initiated legal action 16 , neither information on the identities of the top 100 drug traffickers/kingpins in India nor any detail of any concrete legal action is available in public domain.
Needless to say, once all the relevant facts & figures are in place, it would be possible to come up with mitigation measure for addressing the shortcomings of national schemes like the National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR), Nasha-Mukh Bharat Abhiyaan and come up with new schemes for tackling challenging modern means of illegal trafficking of Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances through drones, dark webs etc..
9. Given the severity of the issue, India should go for a harsher punishment regime. It is a matter of fact that India’s punishment regime for such offences is not as harsh as those in countries like Singapore, Malaysia, China, Iran, Indonesia etc.
Unlike many countries which provide for death penalties even for first- time offenders, Section 31A of the NDPS Act, 1985 provides for death penalty as an optional punishment for repeat offenders and that too only when such repeat offenders have been caught with scheduled narcotic drugs and psycho- tropic substances above specified quantities. India certainly needs a rethink on its penal provisions, if its war on drugs is to be taken seriously.
Courtesy LiveLaw.in
Contd from previous issue
in India’s National Policy on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, 2012:
“Synthetic and semi-synthetic drugs are illicitly manufactured in clandestine laboratories (commonly known as clan labs) the world over and India is no exception. However, the type of clans and types of drugs that they manufacture vary from place to place. Traditionally, clandestine laboratories in India are of two kinds–small, makes-shift manufacturing faci- lities which process opium into heroin and large industrial scale facilities which manufacture methaqualone.”
“Diversion of licit pharmaceuticals containing narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances for abuse has been a significant problem in India. Preparations containing drugs such as codeine, buprenorphine, diazepam and alprazolam are commonly abused”.
“As precursors are difficult to produce, illicit drug manufacturers usually obtain them by diverting from licit production and trade of precursors. Countries with large chemical and pharmaceutical industries like India are natural targets for traffickers of precursors.” India’s policy framework needs to be re-calibrated, inter alia, by going for a stricter criminal liabilities for pharmaceutical companies in case of diversion of preparations containing ephedrine from domestic distribution channels and extraction of ephedrine there-from for ATS.
7. India’s legal system is falling short of the advancement of technology for illegal trafficking of narcotic drugs and narcotic substances.
For example, there is a huge increase in use of dark web and crypto-currency such as bitcoin by drug peddlers and buyers. Even drones have become tools not only for war or espionage or surveys, but also for shipment of drugs across borders. Such an issue has been duly recognized by the Hon’ble High Court of Punjab & Haryana in CRM-M- 20005 of 2025 (Robert Masih Vs. State of Punjab) in its Order of September 22, 2025, wherein it has been observed that there “is steady increase in cross border smuggling of illicit drugs through drones these days”.
8. India’s narcotic drugs policy needs streamlining of data management system on relevant strains of narcotic drugs & psychotropic substances business like number of Controlled Delivery operations with countries bordering India’s border states, details of implementation of Alternative Development Programmes, diversion of narcotic and psychotropic synthetic and semi-synthetic substances from their licit sources with specific action taken reports, abuse of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances in educational institutions, food joints, prisons etc.
The case in point is that though Amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) were reported to be widely consumed in India, there was no official data on consumers of such illegal substances 15 . Moreover, though the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Ministry of Home Affairs, has reportedly identified top 100 drug traffickers/kingpins and has initiated legal action 16 , neither information on the identities of the top 100 drug traffickers/kingpins in India nor any detail of any concrete legal action is available in public domain.
Needless to say, once all the relevant facts & figures are in place, it would be possible to come up with mitigation measure for addressing the shortcomings of national schemes like the National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR), Nasha-Mukh Bharat Abhiyaan and come up with new schemes for tackling challenging modern means of illegal trafficking of Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances through drones, dark webs etc..
9. Given the severity of the issue, India should go for a harsher punishment regime. It is a matter of fact that India’s punishment regime for such offences is not as harsh as those in countries like Singapore, Malaysia, China, Iran, Indonesia etc.
Unlike many countries which provide for death penalties even for first- time offenders, Section 31A of the NDPS Act, 1985 provides for death penalty as an optional punishment for repeat offenders and that too only when such repeat offenders have been caught with scheduled narcotic drugs and psycho- tropic substances above specified quantities. India certainly needs a rethink on its penal provisions, if its war on drugs is to be taken seriously.
Courtesy LiveLaw.in