- As the entire nation is witnessing, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) is hitting the national headlines more frequently than some of the most important occurrences over the last year or so. Right from the time of the tragic suicide of a Bollywood star last year, the possession, distribution, and consumption of the banned drugs cases involving several celebrities and known personalities are constantly making news. It’s another matter altogether that most of the cases are proving to be a mere attention-grabbing mechanism on the national channels but eventually petering out for want of concrete results.
PC: PIT
- Now, the entire nation is glued to the television watching a Bollywood superstar’s son being held for the drug-related case which is being played out in the courts. Against this backdrop, the Union social justice ministry has proposed an important amendment to the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, to treat those apprehended with small quantities of drugs as victims rather than as culprits. The stigma attached to any matters associated with drugs requires no further elaboration with judgment being passed as culprit even before the law of the land takes a due course of action. The civilized society is too harsh in singling out individuals facing the NCB’s action as anti-social.
- As such, terming them as drug users instead of the NDPS Act’s definition of drug consumers as addicts makes a valid recommendation in dealing with the sensitive issue in a more humane and understanding manner. Further, the ministry also recommended a mandatory minimum period of 30 days at a rehabilitation/de-addiction facility followed by one year of community service. These proposed recommendations, if implemented, will go a long way in reforming the taboo subject holistically. However, there is no denying the fact that the proposed reforms should go even further as well. Note that cannabis, outlawed by NDPS Act in 1985, despite its long presence in Indian culture must be decriminalized.
PC: Harshil Jain
- There have been several appeals and demands over the years to precisely do away with the decriminalization of cannabis usage. Time has indeed come to seriously consider this aspect in line with the global practice which is opting for a more liberalized outlook on the same. Society will be better served if the remodeled NDPS Act focuses on tackling the real problem of trafficking hard drugs. Much institutional energy is expended in prosecuting drug users caught with small quantities for personal consumption considerably backlogging criminal courts to further aggravate the situation. The resultant outcome is the NCB getting embroiled in small drug consumption cases and reflexively opposing bails showing how even elite agencies can lose way in the bargain.
- Mind you, possessing small quantities of cannabis is punishable with up to one-year imprisonment and hence should be bailable. However, police and prosecution get tremendous leeway to routinely accuse drug consumers of being in cahoots with drug syndicates transforming even minor offenses into ones of severe magnitude. Thus, the social justice ministry’s suggestions should be seriously considered to amend the NDPS Act by removing the anachronistic clauses befitting a modern-thinking reformed nation that we eventually aspire to be.
