The Centre must help Punjab on the drug issue
The 2009 notification to the NDPS Act that emphasises a punishmentbased approach must be revoked
Punjab is facing a huge drug addiction crisis. At least 23 people have reportedly died due to overdoses in June alone. But the law dealing with drug addicts has only made the situation worse; the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Act, 1985 (NDPS Act), prima facie criminalises drug addiction.
The law assumes that decriminalising addiction is tantamount to condoning use of drugs, and advocacy by human rights groups to decriminalise the act has fallen on deaf ears. The legislature, too, wants deterrent punishment for drug use. This brings the addicts into the fold of the criminal justice system and they eventually end up landing in jail at the end of the trial.
Small details matter. The 2009 notification to the NDPS Act passed by the department of revenue assigns punishment on the basis of weight of the total drug substance recovered, and not, unlike earlier, on the individual pure drug ingredient. For example, in a case in Moga, an accused with 5,000 tablets of lomotil with 12 grams diphenoxylate was sentenced only for six months, as 12 grams was considered close to “small quantity” classification. But now, somebody caught with 50 grams of white powder, with five grams cocaine in it, will nevertheless be convicted for the entire 50 grams, and not just five grams.
This notification has changed the quantum of sentencing in judgments across Punjab. The judgments in the cases in which the drugs were recovered after the 2009 notification differ starkly, and two cases from Barnala in which the convicts were found with diphenoxylate drive home the contrast. In 2013, a 70-year-old woman was arrested with 1,800 white tablets containing diphenoxylate. She pleaded her age and poverty as mitigating factors to reduce her sentence. In the other case, a 65-year-old man was found carrying 1,500 tablets containing the same substance. In both these cases, applying the 2009 notification, the court sentenced them to 10 years mandatory minimum imprisonment.
The NDPS Act does not allow for remission or suspension of sentences, which means that both the convicts will be spending a major part of their old age in prison.
To nudge Punjab towards a drug-free state, government should take a two-pronged approach. And for that, the state desperately needs the Centre’s help. In 2012, the parliamentary standing committee on NDPS Act refused to even consider decriminalisation of drug addiction citing what they called a “medical maxim” — prevention is better than cure. The 2009 notification must be revoked. It has, and will, only lead to victimisation of more people, creating avoidable tragedies. In life, we are under constant pressure to do and be better, and even better. In this endeavour, we are fueled by peer comparison and competition. And, if not taken in the right spirit, we can easily become a victim of jealousy and an inferiority complex, besides putting ourselves under undue stress and strain. This doesn’t do us any good.
However, if you think about it, some amount of comparison is desirable and