Dr.

RAM MANOHAR LOHIYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

LUCKNOW
ACADEMIC SESSION: 2021-2022
Basics of Legislation
Project on:
Indian Legislations on Drugs and Narcotics

Submitted To:
Dr. Shashank Shekhar Asst. Professor (Law)
Submitted By:
Mohd Yousuf Roll No. 210101088
Ist Semester BA LLB (Hons)
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS............................... .............................................................................

3.DECLARATION………………………………………………………………………………
4.ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. .........................................................................................................
5. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.....................................................................................................
6. LIST OF CASES.........................................................................................................................
7.INTRODUCTION ......................................... .............................................................................
8.DEFINITION………………………………………………………………………………….
9. LEGISLATIVE DEVELOPEMTS………………………………………………………….
10.DRUGS PROBLEM IN INDIA ………………………………………………………….
11. SIGNIFICANT FEATURES OF NDPS ACT………………………………………….
12. CONCLUSION............................. ..............................................................................…….
13. BIBLIOGRAPHY............................. .............................................................................
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the project work entitled “Indian Legislations on Drugs and Narcotics”
submitted to the Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow is a record of an
original work done by me under the guidance of Mr. Shashank Shekhar, Assistant Professor,
Faculty of Law, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University and this project work is
submitted in the partial ful llment of the requirements for the award of the degree of B.A. LLB.
(Hons.). The results embodied in this thesis have not been submitted to any other University or
Institute for the award of any degree or diploma.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I express my gratitude and deep regards to my teacher for the subject Dr. Shashank Shekhar for
giving me freedom to work on such an interesting topic and also for his exemplary guidance,
monitoring and constant encouragement throughout the course of this thesis.

I would also like to thank the librarians of Dr. Madhu Limaye Library who extended their
assistance to me by helping me out consult the relevant books and provided me with research
material and good books to work upon and the distinguished authors, jurists and journals for
providing in the public domain such invaluable information. I also thank all of my friends and
seniors who aided me along the way.

Lastly, I thank almighty, my family and friends for their constant encouragement without which
this assignment would not have been possible.

I know that despite my best efforts some discrepancies might have crept in which I believe my
humble Professor would forgive.

Thanking You All.

Mohd Yousuf
 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

1. AIR- All India Reporter

2. SCC- Supreme Court Cases

3. NDPS- The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act

4. ILI- Indian Law Institute

5. PVT- Private

6. LTD- Limited

7. LSD-Lysergic acid diethylamide

8. URL- Uniform Resource Locator

 De nition: What is Drugs and Narcotics?
A drug (such as opium or morphine) that in moderate doses dulls the senses, relieves pain,
and induces profound sleep but in excessive doses causes stupor, coma, or convulsions. A
drug (such as marijuana or LSD) subject to restriction similar to that of addictive narcotics
whether physiologically addictive and narcotic or not.
A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or
psychology when consumed.Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances
that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection,
smoking, ingestion, absorption via a patch on the skin, suppository, or dissolution under
the tongue. In pharmacology, a drug is a chemical substance, typically of known structure,
which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect.

• Cannabis: plant; gum or charas and its concentrated variation called cannabis; dried
blossoming or fruiting highest points of the plant, that is, weed and any combination of
charas or weed. Critically, bhang or the weed leaf is rejected (as per the 1961 Show) and
controlled through state extract laws

• Coca: plant: leaf; subordinates incorporate cocaine and any arrangement containing
0.1% of cocaine

Opium: poppy concentrated poppy straw; juice of opium poppy; mixture of opium poppy
juice; preparations with 0.2% morphine; derivatives include heroin, morphine, codeine,
thebaine, etc.

We use the term drugs, generally for drugs which are used for recreational purposes. is the
utilization of a medication (lawful, controlled, or illicit) with the essential aim of changing
the condition of awareness through modi cation of the focal nervous system to make good
feelings and sentiments. The stimulant LSD is a psychoactive medication normally utilized
as a sporting drug

From customary plant-based medications like marijuana, cocaine, and heroin to

manufactured medications, for example, tramadol, utilization of opiate substances in India
has expanded complex in late years.

Ketamine is a medication utilized for sedation, and is likewise utilized as a sporting

medication, both in powder and uid structure, for its stimulating and dissociative effects.

Some public laws restrict the utilization of various sporting medications; and therapeutic
medications that have the potential for sporting use are regularly vigorously controlled.
Nonetheless, there are numerous sporting medications that are lawful in numerous
purviews and generally socially acknowledged. Marijuana is the most regularly burned-
through controlled sporting medication on the planet Its utilization in numerous nations is
illicit yet is legitimately utilized in a few nations ordinarily with the stipulation that it must
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be utilized for individual use. It tends to be utilized in the leaf type of cannabis (grass), or in
the pitch type of maryjane. Pot is a more gentle type of pot than maryjane.

There might be an age limitation on the utilization and acquisition of legitimate sporting
medications. Some sporting medications that are legitimate and acknowledged in many
spots incorporate liquor, tobacco, betel nut, and caffeine items, and in certain spaces of the
world the lawful utilization of medications, for example, khat is common.

There are various lawful intoxicants generally considered lawful highs that are utilized
casually. The most generally utilized of these is liquor.

Legislative developments on Drugs Controls in India:

In order to control drug use in India, we have various legislations. India's Narcotic Drugs
and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act of 1985, which was amended by the NDPS Act of
1988, and other laws made to control drug abuse and drug traf cking, and United Nations
(UN) conventions on reducing and preventing the demand for drugs, controlling drug
supply and drug traf cking
The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Bill, 1985 was presented in the Lok
Sabha on 23 August 1985. It was passed by both the houses of Parliament and it was
consented by the President on 16 September 1985. It came into power on 14 November
1985 as THE Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (abbreviated to NDPS
Act). Under the NDPS Act, it is illicit for an individual to create/make/develop, have, sell,
buy, transport, store, and additionally devour any opiate drug or psychotropic substance.
India is a signatory of the 3 United Nations drug conventions – the 1961 Single Convention
on Narcotic Drugs (1961 Convention), the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances
(1971 Convention) and the 1988 Convention against Illicit Traf c in Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances (1988 Convention). Domestic laws to give effect to these treaties
was introduced only in the 1980s when the ‘extra period’ for remvoving non-medical use of
drugs and opium under the 1961 Convention expired. Making use of its powers to make
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legislations for the country for implementing “any treaty, agreement or convention made at
international meeting”,16 the Indian Lower House passed the Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act) hastily, without much debate. The NDPS
Act came into force on 14 November 1985, replacing the Opium Acts and the Dangerous
Drugs Act.

Under one of the arrangements of the demonstration, the Narcotics Control Agency was set
up with impact from march of 1986. The Demonstration is intended to satisfy India's deal
commitments under the Single Show on narco Medications, conbvention on Psychotropic
Substances, and Joined Countries Show Against Illegal Traf c in Opiate Medications and
Psychotropic Substances. The Demonstration has been revised multiple times - in 1988,
2001, and most as of late in 2014.

The 2014 amendment perceives the requirement for relief from discomfort as a signi cant
commitment of the public authority. It makes a class of meds called Fundamental Narcotics
Medications (Finishes). Power for enactment on Closures has been moved from the state
legislatures to the focal states with the goal that the entire nation currently can have a
uniform law covering these meds which are required for torment relief. The authority
record expresses that the NDPS Act was authorized to give satisfactory punishments to
medicate dealing, reinforce requirement powers, execute worldwide shows to which India
was a party, and uphold powers over psychotropic substances. The Demonstration was
revised in 1989, 2001 and all the more as of late in 2014.

The NDPS Act precludes development, creation, ownership, deal, buy, exchange, import,
product, use and utilization of opiate drugs and psychotropic substances aside from clinical
and logical purposes as per the law.18 Planning to submit speci c offenses is culpable as is
endeavor. Adornment wrongdoings of supporting and abetting and criminal connivance
draw in a similar discipline as the head offence.19

Consequently, NDPS rules which would be pertinent to all states and association domains
has been reported by the public authority of India in May 2015. It likewise has included 6
medications to be speci c Morphine, Fentanyl, Methadone, Oxycodone, Codeine and
Hydrocodone As indicated by these guidelines, there is a solitary organization - the state
drug regulator - who can endorse perceived clinical establishments (RMI) for loading and
apportioning Closures, without the requirement for some other licenses. The RMIs are
obliged to guarantee appropriate documentation and to submit yearly utilization
measurements to the medication regulator of the state.

The Demonstration stretches out to the entire of India and it applies additionally to all
Indian residents outside India and to all people on boats and airplane enrolled in India.
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 Drugs Problem in India:
International Treaties and Conventions to Combat Drug Menace:
India is a signatory of the following International treaties and conventions to combat the
menace of Drug Abuse:
United Nations (UN) Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961)
UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances (1971).
UN Convention against Illicit Traf c in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (1988)
UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) 2000.

The problem of drug addiction has spread fast among the young generations of India.
India lies between two largest Opium producing regions of the world which is the Golden
triangle on one side and the Golden crescent on other.
The golden triangle area consists of Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos.
The golden crescent area comprises of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.
As per the World Drug Report 2021, prescriptive drugs and their ingredients or
'precursors' are being increasingly diverted for enjoyment and recreational use in India--
the largest producer of generic drugs in the world.
India is also connected to shipping of drugs sold on the 19 major darknet markets analysed
over 2011-2020.
As per the National Crime Records Bureau’s Crime record in India 2020 report, a total of
59,886 cases were led under NDPS Act.
According to the Social Justice Ministry and All India Institute of Medical Sciences
(AIIMS) report on scale of substance use in 2019, there were:
3.2 crore cannabis consumers (of which 28 lakh were dependent users).
2.5 crore opioid consumers (of which 27 lakh were dependent users).

Signi cant Features of NDPS Act:

Amount based punishments

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The amount and discipline range for certain medications is a prominent feature of NDPS
Act.

As can be seen, the size of punishment and ne uctuates fundamentally relying upon the
substance and amount found. Thus, deciding the measure of medications associated with an
offense is essential and much case rotates around this inquiry, particularly around the
expressions "blend"; "readiness" and "with or without unbiased material" that are
contained in the law. Since the NDPS Act doesn't give direction to learning amount, a few
courts started to depend on the legal meaning of medications, particularly those that allude
to a mathematical rate (for example opium and opium subsidiaries) to ascertain the
amount in question. This brought about con icting understandings and clashing choices
between various classes of medications as well as in any event, for a similar medication. The
'purity versus complete weight' debate pursued on even after the High Court held that for
drugs blended in with 'impartial substances', just the real substance of the narcotic drug is
important for deciding if it comprises a little or business quantity.Per year after the fact,
the public authority pronounced that in computing the amount, the all out weight of the
held onto item should be thought of and not the unadulterated medication content. This
change is fundamentally harming for individuals who use drugs and other low-level guilty
parties who hazard being condemned for middle or business amount offenses, since road
drugs are intensely 'cut' and infrequently at any point seized in unadulterated structures.

Death sentence

The hardness of the NDPS Act is shown by the inclusion of the death sentence for some
repeat crimes (growing, manufacture, possession, transportation, import and export)
involving a huge amount of drugs. Introduced as a compulsory punishment in 1989, the
range of crimes punishable with death was narrowed in 2001

Criminalization of individuals who use drugs

Utilization of medications is illicit and brings about a prison term of as long as a half year
or one year or potentially a ne, contingent upon the substance consumed. The utilization
of heroin and cocaine will prompt a lengthier sentence of detainment while pot will prompt
a less serious sentence. The classi cation of "ownership of little amount planned for
individual utilization" was discarded in 2001 and by and by, ownership of limited
quantities draws in uniform discipline, regardless of aim.
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 CONCLUSION:
We need several reforms in legislations like NDPS Act. We have to reduce the punishments,
and make it more friendly. Drug policy administration is to be divided not only between
central and state governments but also between ministries and departments at the same
level.
Points for consideration to improve at:
I would like to propose the following reforms to the government of India for consideration:
• Look again the very hard and non proportionate punishment structure under the NDPS
Act, and abolish the criminalization of drug use and imposition of the death penalty for
drugs cimes.
• Make sure that the legal provisions on drug treatment are properly applied in a way that
ensures people who consume drugs to access evidence-based treatment services without the
fear of sanctions such as criminal prosecution and being in the jail.
• Adopt and appky minimum quality standards to make sure that the rehab programs are
scienti cally just and proved, and respect the human rights of people who are on drugs
• Expand access to narcotic and drug medicines necessary for treating a wide number of
medical conditions, with practical safeguards against illicit diversion
•Make better functional co ordination between government departments with a clean
responsibility for each state agency on evoloving and implementing policies and practices
relating to drugs
• Consult with people, including friends of people who use drugs, medical professionals,
academics and patient groups expert in drugs issues in drug policy formulation
• Make regular data collection on drug consumption, dependence and related health
implications such as HIV and viral hepatitis prevalence amongst people who inject drugs.
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 Bibliography:

1. http:// leserver.idpc.net/library/IDPC-brie ng-paper_Drug-policy-in-India.pdf

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug
3. https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/ ghting-drug-
addiction-1
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