Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

National policy on narcotic drugs soon

CHENNAI: In a bid to have uniformity of approach and well-coordinated action by Central and State agencies, the Ministry of Home Affairs will soon come out with a national policy on Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS).

According to sources in the Narcotics Control Bureau, the policy was aimed at making drugs available for medicinal/scientific purposes and preventing their abuse.

At a two-day meeting on the draft national policy on NDPS in New Delhi last week, top officials representing various law enforcing agencies deliberated on the latest drug trend/trafficking scenario in the country and amendments that may be required to make enforcement more stringent.

Besides focussing more on research and sophisticated investigation gadgets, the issue of ketamine being smuggled out of India as a party drug to South-East Asian countries was discussed in detail.

“Ketamine may be brought under the list of controlled or narcotic substances…it is often being used as a ‘date rape drug' in some countries. The draft policy has been evolved considering international conventions and resolutions on drug management. The objective is also to reassert India's commitment to combat the drug menace in a holistic manner,” NCB's South Zonal Director S. Davidson Devasirvatham told TheHindu on Monday.

Identification and destruction of illicit opium and cannabis crops and providing alternative development in such areas, control on export/import of drugs, drug-demand reduction activities and allocation of drugs for medical purposes by the International Narcotics Control Board based in Vienna were some of the issues discussed at the meeting.

“The policy is expected to spell out the stand of India on drugs. Since many departments/organisations in the Centre and State are involved in the process of enforcing the drug law, the policy will also serve as a guide to them,” Mr. Devasirvatham added.

The sources said it was decided in a meeting of the Economic Intelligence Council recently that the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) would take up project of Satellite Imagery for destruction of illicit poppy crop in ten States, including Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka.

The NCB, which is the national nodal agency for drug law enforcement, had formulated an action plan for the destruction of poppy cultivation, the sources added.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Focus on sensitising census enumerators to disability
Alumni's gift: LED lighting for college
Class X choice for CBSE students
TV channel on Indian art and culture to be launched
Congress for setting up of Navodaya schools
Stolen idols recovered
Petition dismissed
Expo offers advice on education in U.K.
“Lack of cooperation in census will invite action”
Construction workers to stage protest
Why this ‘driving' is unsafe
Field day for young brains at quiz
Corporation to take up with TANGEDCO issue of road cut
“Official apathy makes road improvement difficult”
Arrested for attempt to steal surveillance cameras
BSNL line transfer
Korattur hit by tank leak
Bill drawn up to regulate digital banners: State
Petition seeks to quash notification
Case can't be referred to CBI after police have completed probe: court
DMK rebuts Swamy's claim
“Renovation of ancient temples only in consultation with Archaeology Department”
National policy on narcotic drugs soon
Islamic scholars asked to explain procedures of triple “talaq”
Chennai Today

Copyright © 2011, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu