The Supreme Court has provided more teeth to the anti-narcotics law and held that it is the quantity of the entire banned drug mixture and not its purity which will determine the punishment for an offender under the legislation.

The top court said that the amount of neutral substance in a mixture has to be included along with the actual weight of the banned substances for determining whether it is a small or commercial quantity under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

What was the point highlighted by the SC? 

A three-judge bench of Justices Arun Mishra, Indira Banerjee and M.R. Shah said that the two bench verdict of 2008 in the case of E. Micheal Raj was not a good law for holding that in a mixture of narcotic drugs, only the weight of the banned substance is relevant for the purpose of determining whether it would constitute small quantity or commercial quantity.

Under the provision of NDPS Act, the punishment for possessing commercial quantity of the banned substance is higher than the smaller quantity.

In case of seizure of mixture of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances with one or more neutral substances, the quantity of neutral substances is not to be excluded and to be taken into consideration along with actual content by weight of the offending drug, while determining the small or commercial quantity of the Narcotic Drugs or Psychotropic Substances, the bench held.

It said that illicit street drugs are seldom sold in a pure form and they are almost always adulterated or mixed with other substances — like caffeine is mixed with heroin so that it causes the heroin to vaporize at a lower rate. 

The order said this Court, in the case of E. Micheal Raj, is taking the view that in the mixture of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substance with one or more neutral substances, the quantity of the neutral substances is not to be taken into consideration while determining the small quantity or commercial quantity of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance and only the actual content by weight of the offending narcotic drug which is relevant for the purpose of determining whether it would constitute small quantity or commercial quantity, is not a good law. 

NDPS Act

The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985 constitutes the statutory framework for drug law enforcement in India. 

This enactment consolidates the erstwhile Acts — the Opium Act, 1857, the Opium Act, 1878 and the Dangerous Drugs Act, 1930. The provisions of these enactments were found to be inadequate because of the passage of time and developments in the field of illicit drug traffic and drug abuse at national and international level. To consolidate and to amend the laws relating to narcotic drugs a comprehensive legislation was considered to be necessary. Accordingly, the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Bill was introduced in the Parliament in 1985.

The anti-drug laws were further tightened with the enactment of the Prevention of Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act in 1988. This Act provides for preventive detention of drug traffickers. 

Significance of the NDPS Act

The SC bench said the use of drugs by young people in India has increased over a period of time, which is a crime against the society and has to be dealt with iron hands. The drugs are being used for weakening of the nation, the bench said, adding that with the passage of time and the development in the field of illicit drug traffic and during abuse at national and international level, many deficiencies in the existing laws have come to notice.

The top court said the NDPS Act is a special law and has a laudable purpose to serve and is intended to combat the menace otherwise bent upon destroying the public health and national health. 

The guilty must be in and the innocent ones must be out. The punishment part in drug trafficking is an important one but its preventive part is more important. Therefore, Prevention of Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1988 was introduced. The aim was to prevent illicit traffic rather than punish after the offence was committed, the bench said.

Drug law enforcement in India

The Narcotics Control Bureau was established in March 1986 in terms of Section 4(3) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, which envisages an authority for taking measures with respect to such matters under the Act, subject to the supervision and control of the central government. 

At the operational level, India’s drug law enforcement strategy has focused upon combating trafficking through appropriate intelligence, interdiction and investigative initiatives, eradicating illicit drug crops, implementing a regime of domestic and international trade controls over select precursor chemicals, and targeting assets derived from drug trafficking by confiscation and forfeiture.

Given India’s size and the federal nature of our polity, a number of agencies both at the Centre and in the states, have been empowered to enforce the provisions of the NDPS Act. Effective coordination between these agencies is vital for the efficacy of drug law enforcement strategy. This coordinating role has been assigned to the Narcotics Control Bureau. 

Functions of Narcotics Control Bureau

* Coordination of actions by various offices, state governments and other authorities under the principal Act, the Customs Act, 1962, the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and any other law in connection with the enforcement of the principal Act.

* Assisting states in enhancing their drug law enforcement effort.

* Collection and dissemination of intelligence.

* Analysis of seizure data, study of trends and modus operandi. 

* Preparation of National Drug Enforcement Statistics.

* Coordination of actions taken by the ministry of health and family welfare and other concerned ministries, departments or organisations in respect of matters relating to drug abuse. 

* Liaison with international agencies such as United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), INTERPOL, Customs Cooperation Council, Regional Intelligence Liaison Office (RILO), etc. 

* National contact point for intelligence and investigations.

The Narcotics Control Bureau is also responsible for the enforcement of the provisions of the NDPS Act which it does through its ten zonal and regional offices.

After the NDPS Act was amended in May 1989 to inter-alia provide for control over precursor chemicals, the implementation of domestic controls over precursors was also assigned to the Bureau. 

Agreements on drug related matters

India is a party to the 1961 Single Convention, the 1971 Convention Against Psychotropic Substances and the 1988 Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. 

India’s obligations under these Conventions are implemented domestically through appropriate provisions in the NDPS Act. 

Also, India has signed bilateral agreements/MoUs exclusively on drug related matters with 14 countries and bilateral agreements on criminal matters and related matters, wherein drugs related matters are also included, with nine  countries. 

In addition, bilateral agreements/MoUs with 24 countries exclusively on drug related matters have been proposed and these are at various stages of finalisation.

International Narcotics Control Board

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) is an independent, quasi-judicial expert body established by the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 by merging two bodies — the Permanent Central Narcotics Board, created by the 1925 International Opium Convention and the Drug Supervisory Body, created by the 1931 Convention for Limiting the Manufacture and Regulating the Distribution of Narcotic Drugs. 

Its headquarters is situated in Vienna. 

INCB has 13 members, each elected by the Economic and Social Council for a period of five years. Three members with medical, pharmacological or pharmaceutical experience are elected from a list of persons nominated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and 10 members are elected from a list of persons nominated by governments.

In cooperation with governments, the INCB endeavours to ensure that adequate supplies of drugs are available for medical and scientific uses and that the diversion of drugs from licit sources to illicit channels does not occur.

The INCB also monitors governments’ control over chemicals used in the illicit manufacture of drugs and assists them in preventing the diversion of those chemicals into illicit traffic.

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