IN October 1839, William B. O'Shaughnessy, Assistant Surgeon and Professor of Chemistry at the Medical College in Calcutta (now Kolkata), presented an extraordinary paper, titled "On The Preparations of the Indian Hemp or Gunjah (Cannabis indica)", which would form the basis of the usage of cannabis in Western medicine. The paper recorded a series of experiments conducted by O'Shaughnessy that illustrated the benefits of cannabis, leading him to conclude that "the speediest trial may be given to the proposed remedy". But it was not to be. In the late 19th century the imperial government passed a series of Acts controlling the consumption and sale of opium and cannabis, and finally in 1930 charas (cannabis resin) was brought under the Dangerous Substances Act.
Post-independence India's policy ondrugs was one of benign ignorance until 1985, when the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act was introduced. The Act, until its amendment in 2001, mandated a minimum of 10 years' imprisonment and a fine of Rs.1 lakh (it could extend up to 20 years and Rs.2 lakhs) for possession of commercial commodities that were defined as exceeding 250 milligrams (0.25 grams) of heroin and 125 mg of cocaine. It was also the first Act that explicitly outlawed ganja and mandated an imprisonment of a minimum of six months for its consumption. Its possession in commercial quantities mandated similarly severe punishments.
After the 2001 amendment, the distinctions between possession for personal consumption and commercial consumption were made more apparent. Those charged under the Act with the possession of less than 5 gm of heroin and 2 gm of cocaine were now liable to be awarded up to one year's rigorous imprisonment and/or a fine of Rs.20,000. The Act continues to put the burden of guilt on the accused - the defendant is presumed guilty unless proven otherwise. The Act also gives the police wide powers of search and arrest. Repeat offenders are liable to attract the death penalty.
The Act was introduced to conform to the U.N. Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which was adopted by U.N. member-states in 1961 and enforced in 1964. Brought to the U.N. through intensive lobbying by the United States, it was influential in standardising national drug protocols across the globe. However, during the negotiations, a group of nations including India, Pakistan, Turkey and Burma (Myanmar) argued that psychotropic substances such as Coca (the natural form of cocaine) and cannabis were deeply enmeshed in their respective local cultures. As a result, certain countries were offered a transitional period of 15 years for outlawing opium and 25 years for cannabis, along with a promise of development aid to compensate for lost excise revenues.
At present, the government strategy consists of a two-pronged approach, of reducing demand and supply. While demand reduction is the brief of the Ministry of Welfare and Social Justice, supply reduction has been left to enforcement agencies such as the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and State police forces. "At present, most efforts have been directed at supply reduction," admits A.S. Cheema, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Narcotics, Delhi. "Almost all drug cases are handled under the NDPS Act of 1985, which has specific provisions for specific drugs."
For its part, the Ministry has come up with a Scheme for Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drugs) Abuse, which provides voluntary organisations with financial support for setting up detoxification and counselling centres. At present, the scheme has 376 detoxification centres and 46 counselling centres across the country. The Ministry has also set up a drug abuse monitoring system to collect information on drug use in India.
"But that is simply not enough," says Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Executive Director of the Federation of Indian NGOs for Drug Abuse Prevention (FINGO DAP). Kumar points out that drug usage cannot be approached purely as a health problem, but must be treated in a nuanced, culturally sensitive manner. Drug usage directly affects seemingly diverse issues such as HIV/AIDS, child rights and crime (perpetrated both by users and on users). "Which is why a coherent policy is important," Kumar says.
Apart from simply listing permissible and illicit drugs, the national policy must prioritise intervention strategies such as prevention, treatment and awareness, and allocate funds accordingly. The policy should also be formulated in consonance with existing policies on education, alcohol and enforcement. Many feel that the policy must also involve all levels of government - particularly panchayati raj institutions and local governments. There should also be provisions for the review of permissible and banned substances; a policy of decriminalisation of certain substances may also be considered.
Many have argued that the NDPS Act systematically dismantled existing cultural barriers on excessive consumption of substances. Social groups had not just evolved religious controls on consumption, but even incorporated them into traditional systems of medicine.
In their paper titled "Drug Policy in India: Compounding Harm?" Molly Charles, Dave Bewley Taylor and Amanda Neidpath argue that by penalising even the smallest quantities of drug consumption and possession, the NDPS might have inadvertently pushed users towards harder and stronger drugs to attain the same high, not to mention the adoption of dangerous usage practices such as injecting to maximise the potency of the drug.
Sunil Batra, an advocate who specialises in NDPS-related cases, feels that soft drugs such as cannabis should be decriminalised, if not legalised, considering that cannabis grows wild all over the country and is freely accessible to those who seek it. "If the government feels that legalisation would send out the wrong signal, it can always make it a civil offence," he says.
While the Ministry struggles to get its act together, evidence on the street suggests that India is fast becoming a transit point for the global drugs trade. On June 4, 2006, the NCB seized 200 kg of pure cocaine, valued at a street price of almost Rs.500 crores, from the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai. While the recipient of the shipment is unknown, what is known is that this is the single largest seizure of cocaine in Asia.
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