India has a very bad record when it comes to narcotics. The problem of narcotics and drugs has resulted in the weakening of the development and progress of the country and because of it , it has created the problems of mental as well as emotional health especially among the youths of the current generation.
The basic motive behind the consumption of any drug or alcohol is that it gives you temporary relief from the problems, depression and mental sufferings that the person suffers due to which he is indulged in consumption of these things. The mental as well as emotional relief by the consumption of alcohol or drugs is just temporary but it causes great sufferings and enormous diseases in human body for the whole life. Basically these narcotics and drugs are imported and exported from different parts of the world and in India these drugs are supplied through the routes of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and ,Nepal and the consumption of drugs in these South Asian Countries are very high .
The youths of these countries are addicted so much to these drugs that it has become impossible to move them towards the right direction and the path towards the success. Mental Counselling and emotional support by the family members, friends and close ones are the only ways nowadays to divert the paths of the youths towards the path of progress and success. In India, the Northern States of Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi are highly affected by the problems of drugs among all the age groups especially among the youths in particular.
Youngsters especially between the age of 15-25 Years are specially attracted to the drugs, which they think think that it is a great remedy to remove their pain and sufferings. They feel that it kills their inner soul because they become frustrated with their day to day life hence increased consumption of alcohol.
Further, the consumption of alcohol and drugs is not only in the case of mental sufferings and depression which a person goes through his life, but because they think they will become cool when they will consume such things or become a stud. The drug issue in India is a really serious issue and has hampered the working and development of the country.
In the National Household Survey more than 40,000 men and boys (aged 12 to 60 years) were interviewed, while subsidiary studies looked at drug misuse among women and prison inmate and in rural populations and border areas.
Alcohol, cannabis, opium and heroin are the major drugs misused in India says the report. Buprenorphine, Propoxyphene and heroin are the most commonly injected drugs.
Applying estimates of prevalence to population figures, the survey estimated that in India, whose population is just over a billion, 62.5 million use alcohol,8.75 million use cannabis, two million use opiates and 0.6 million use sedatives or hypnotics. Seventeen per cent to 26% of these people can be classified as dependent user who need urgent treatment, says the Reports. About 25% of users of opiates and cannabis are likely to seek treatment, while about one in six people who drink alcohol are likely to do so.
“That drug abuse is an exclusively urban phenomenon is a myth” said George Lewis, the South Asian Regional Representative of the UN office on drugs and crime.
Laws and Agencies To Control The Drug Trafficking and Abuse in India
The Narcotics Control Bureau or the NCB is the Nodal Drug Law Enforcement and Intelligence Agency in India which is responsible for controlling the operation of distribution of drug trafficking and drug among all the age groups and citizens of India. The main aim of this Agency is to control the drug abuse, which happens within the Country. The Agency also has authority to Punish the Guilty. The Agency also has Jurisdiction to take cognizance of drug abuse that happens in other countries through India. The Director General of NCB is an officer of the Indian Police Service or Indian Revenue Service (IRS) who is responsible for fighting and stoppage of the drug abuse and the abuse of the illegal substances in India.
Further to curb the problem of the ever increasing drug abuse and trafficking especially in the Northern Indian States and control the limitation of the drug supply in the country it was decided to form the organisation which would curb the practice of the drug supply and drug trafficking in the country so that no citizens are affected by the ill effects of the drug abuse and alcohol consumption.
Hence, the Narcotics Control Bureau was created on 17 March 1986 to enable the full implementation of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 and fight it’s violation through the practice of Illicit Trafficking in Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act 1988.
Under the NDPS Act the flower or bud (cannabis) and the resin (Charas) is termed as illegal and possession up to 1000 gm of Charas is tantamount to 6 months prison or Rs 10000 Fine. So the accused (on being caught has to convince the authorities that he/she was only possessing leaves or seeds which doesn’t come under the list of banned substances.
However the onus of proving that the content is only leaves and seeds, lies on the accused and that is to empower the police to prosecute. So if we are caught smoking leaves or seeds, which is virtually impossible. Thus we can more or less conclude that if we are caught possessing ganja we can walk free, but not in case of smoking.
Section 20- In the case of cultivation, a fine of up to one lakh rupees and rigorous imprisonment for up to 10 years may be levied. For possession of small quantities (100 grams of Charas and Hashish 1000 Grams of Ganja) a penalty of ten thousand rupees or a jail term of 6 months to 1 year.
If someone is caught with commercial quantities (1 kg of Charas and Hashish, 20 kgs of Ganja) the Court can serve a stern imprisonment for up to twenty years and pay a fine of two lakh rupees.
Agencies and Laws for Drug Control in Foreign Countries
The laws related to the prohibition and stoppage of the trade of the drug and narcotics related issues in the foreign countries and there are stringent measures and strict laws for the same. Whoever violates this laws faces the strictest consequences and the concerned authorities which do not take easy regarding the matter of the drugs and narcotics in their respective countries.
Most of these developed countries have developed different agencies and different organisation boards to look after the violators and people who are engaged in the activities of sale of narcotics and drugs from one part to another. In the countries of Middle-East, America, European Countries and Latin American Countries there are very strict rules related to consumption and sale of the alcohol and drugs.
The checking especially in the airports of these countries is very strict and violators cannot escape through the police officials to sale and export these drugs.There is no country where all drugs are legal. Several countries have decriminalised personal possession of drugs.
The Netherlands is the European country most associated with liberal drug laws. Anyone caught with any type of drug in Portugal if it is for personal consumption, will not be imprisoned. Spain and Italy have since followed the Portugal’s example.
In 2009, Mexico took a similar step by decriminalising the possession of small amounts of heroin, cocaine, marijuana, LSD and methamphotamine. In Columbia and Peru, cocaine possession and cultivation is legal. The drug is decriminalised in Switzerland and Germany.
Germany- In 1994 the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that drug addiction was not a crime, nor was the possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use.
In August 2009, the Argentina’s Supreme Court declared in a landmark ruling that it was unconstitutional to prosecute citizens for having drugs for their personal use “adults should be free to make lifestyle decision without the intervention of the State”.
Costa Rica has decriminalised drugs for personal consumption. According to 2008 Constitution of Ecuador in its Article 364, the Ecuadorian State does not see drug consumption as a crime but only as a health concern.
Uruguay is one of few countries that never criminalised the possession of drugs for personal use. Every country that joined INCB Treaty, along with a package of others. That treaty is the reason why heroin and cannabis are considered equally harmful in the convention. No country has dared to contravene the convention, it’s because the INCB has the power to reduce or eliminate a country’s ability to buy licit medical drugs.
The only country that such sanctions have ever been applied to is Afghanistan, which is not exactly short on morphine but it makes the procuring of other necessary drugs by the Afghan Government more difficult. Interestingly, Canada will become the first western country to directly challenge the convention although there are few loopholes that allow revision of the treaty.
These are some of the laws and their agencies to maintain and curb the inflow of the drugs and to prohibit them and what are they doing regarding this matter so as to save the lives of many unidirectional people who have lost their path in the path of drugs and alcohol and making their lives miserable both in India and the World.
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