Drugs in India
Business
On Friday, Aryan Khan, along with others who were accused in the Cruise Ship drugs case, was denied bail and sent to Arthur Jail’s quarantine cell, where they are summoned to be imprisoned for 3-5 days.
The raids in the cruise party found a haul of 13 grams of Cocaine, 21 grams of Charas, 22 pills of MDMA and 5 grams of MD, according to the anti-drugs bureau.
This case once again brings forward the issue of drugs and its increasing consumption in India.
What are “Drugs”?
According to WHO, ‘A drug is any substance or pharmaceutical product, for human or veterinary use, that is intended to modify or explore physiological systems or pathological states for the benefit of the recipient.’
What does Indian History say
The medicinal uses of Cannabis (in its different forms) have been mentioned multiple times in sacred texts such as Rajanirghanta (AD 300), Dhurta Samagama (AD 1500), along with mentions in Arabian and Persian medicines with earlier references by Hasan in AD 658. However, the mention is often of cannabis and not other drugs.
What about current stats?
In the last 2 surveys conducted in 2004 and 2019 by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Opioid use has been reported to have increased from 0.7% to a little over 2%. In terms of magnitude, this translates to - from 2 million to more than 22 million. More disturbingly, Heroin has replaced natural opioids (opium and poppy husk) as the most commonly abused opioids.
Criminality in drug-related cases
Under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act of 1985, it is illegal for a person to produce/ manufacture/ cultivate, possess, sell, purchase, transport, store, and/or consume any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance in India.
There are currently 444 drugs prohibited for manufacturing or sale across the nation.
Fines and punishment
Currently, the punishment is based on the quantity found under the possession of the offender
For small quantity i.e quantity <1kg: Imprisonment extendable to 6 months, or fine up to INR 10,000 or both.
For less than commercial but more than small quantity: Imprisonment up to 10 years with fines up to INR 1 Lakh.
For commercial quantity: Imprisonment of no less than 10 years, extendable to 20 years, and a fine ranging from INR 1 lakh to 2 lakhs.
Aaryan Khan’s case
The NCB has invoked 4 sections of the NDPS Act so far:
Section 8(c) - Producing, manufacturing, possessing, selling, purchasing, transporting, using, consuming, importing, exporting any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance
Section 20 (b) - Cannabis
Section 27 - Consumption of any narcotic drug /psychotropic substance
Section 35 - Presumption of culpable mental state
As of now, the quantities found with Aryan fall under the “small” and “intermediate” categories, and he is currently facing subsequent charges. Along with possession, his intercepted WhatsApp chats also find him guilty and add strength to NCB’s case against him.
Although his lawyers argue that none of the alleged charges was "non-bailable", he was still sent to Mumbai’s Arthur Jail for imprisonment, with NCB fighting hard to keep it that way.
In the last few years, NCB has also summoned other A-listers like Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan, etc., with the aim to eradicate drugs in B-wood.
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