BS Number Wise: India's drug chase could be on the wrong trail

Country has more cases registered for personal drug use than murder; it is cracking down on cannabis when opioids appear to be the bigger problem

Aryan Khan’s arrest on October 2 after a raid on a cruise ship party has put the focus on India’s drug enforcement.

The Narcotics Control Bureau alleged the son of movie star Shah Rukh Khan is a regular drug user and supplier. Aryan has denied the charges. No drugs were found on him. His friend Arbaaz Merchant was allegedly found with six grams of charas, which is made from the cannabis plant.

India’s drug crackdown focuses on cannabis though the plant’s products are gradually finding acceptance in other places. Canada, Italy, Germany and some places in the US have taken steps to legalise at least some cannabis products. India’s National Crime Records Bureau has data on the quantity of drugs seized every year under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. The data shows that over 60 per cent of the total quantity of seized drugs in 2020 was cannabis-based as seen in chart 1. 

The lockdown to slow down the coronavirus may have contributed to higher cannabis seizures, according to Om Prakash Singh, former professor at the Nil Ratan Sircar (NRS) Medical College, Kolkata, whose work covers substance abuse.

“...cannabis is home-grown in India, heroin is mainly imported from other countries,” he said.  

India has more cases registered for personal drug use than murder: this holds true for the last few years for which comparable data is available. Cases registered for drug trafficking are fewer. (see chart 2)

This crackdown on users has been criticised as a ploy to boost conviction rates. The poor are often picked up and made to plead guilty, resulting in a quick conviction, according to earlier research by the independent think tank the Vidhi Centre For Legal Policy. An analysis of the 2020 numbers shows that the NDPS conviction rate is 81.6 per cent overall and 86.7 per cent for personal drug consumption cases. This drops to 44.1 per cent for murder cases and 39.2 per cent in cases related to crimes against women.

The state’s crackdown on users would suggest that India has a cannabis problem. Data doesn’t support that premise. India’s cannabis use is lower than the global average, show numbers from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment’s report entitled the ‘Magnitude of Substance Use in India 2019’.

The report suggested India’s bigger problem is opioids. These cover opium, heroin and pharmaceutical opioids. Prevalence of their use in India is higher than the rest of the world (see chart 3).

“Comparing the figures for illicit drug use globally with India, while the prevalence of cannabis use is lower than the global average, prevalence of opioid use...(in)...India is three times that of global average,” said the report.

“Purely legal approach to drug use has failed to meet with success, and strategies are shifting to harm reduction which include decriminalisation of substance use, and treatment and rehabilitation,” said Om Prakash Singh.