ONE FINAL STEP FORWARD: ARGUMENTS FOR FURTHER AMENDMENTS TO THE NDPS ACT.
INTRODUCTION:
Ministry of Finance (MoF) backed by the Prime minister’s office(PMO) has decided to consider the option of further amending the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) 1985 in the winter parliament session of 2015. The Ministry of Finance is expected to propose groundbreaking amendments which allow the state to introduce legal regulation of certain illicit drugs, including the decriminalization of marijuana possession. It is in this context that the Harm Reduction International – India Chapter (HRI-IC) has decided to commission this policy brief to provide recommendations that we believe should not be left out of the policy reform.
Punitive measures under the NDPS Act has done very little to deter drug use or drug trafficking in India. Consumption of opium and Heroin is been steadily increasing since the introduction of NDPS bill in 1985 (Das, 2012). Empirical evidence indicates that the present policy of criminalization and incarceration has done very little to deter drug use. UNODC baseline survey indicates that 23% of prisoners in India have been apprehended for drug related offence – most have been apprehended for possession and/or consumption of ‘illicit’ drugs listed under the NDPS Act. Inside the prisons, there is evidence of sexual abuse faced by drug users and increasing drug consumption (IHRN, 2009). The NDPS Act, instead of deterring drug use has only served to abuse and de-humanize drug users.
Drug policy reform in India is a principled and necessary step to enable us to address the underlying issues of marginalization and freedom. HRI-IC strongly believes that the nation needs to rework its drug policy to adopt ...
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...April 24). Soft war on drugs. Frontline: Volume 27.
Szalavitz, M. (2010, October). Marijuana as a Gateway Drug: The Myth That Will Not Die. Retrieved from TIME - Health & Family: http://healthland.time.com/2010/10/29/marijuna-as-a- gateway-drug-the-myth-that-will-not-die/
The Hindu. (2014, FEB). Lok Sabha passes amended narcotic drugs bill. Retrieved from The Hindu: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/lok-sabha-passes-amended-narcotic-drugs- bill/article5710661.ece
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“The root cause is a vast, multi-layered incommensurability between the institutions of globalized, market driven society and the basic psychological, social and spiritual needs of human beings” (229). Something that is only briefly recognised in public discussion. The normal methods of intervention are enormously expensive with minimal effects. “Illegal drug business and legal pharmaceutical industries” (229) are financially benefiting from the damaging drugs people use. During a time that is almost complete “domination of Canadian thought by the logic of globalization, it is difficult” (229) to even to come up with a good way of improving dislocation. Dodging these tough realities has created a deadlock and caused us to infinitely endure feeble interventions and ridiculous “war on drugs”
In Australia the Government uses three methods to tackle drugs; Demand reduction, supply reduction and harm minimization. Needle and syringe programs are under harm minimization category. Supply reduction is focused on drug dealers and drug makers and is brought about by law enforcement. In the Demand reduction method it is tried to decrease the number of people taking drugs through anti-drug advertisements and campaigns, legislation, rehabilitation centers. On the other hand harm minimization recognizes the fact that drugs can never be eradicated fro...
Works Cited "The California Marijuana Vote." New Yorker 23 Dec 1996: 62+. Brookhiser, Richard. "Pot Luck." National Review 11 Nov 1996: 27+ Simmons, Michael. "Give Pot a Chance." Rolling Stone 26 Dec 1996: 111+. Rist, Curtis and Harrison, Laird. "Weed the People." People 21 Oct. 1996: 75+. Funk and Wagnall's Volume 23 "Marijuana" 1996 Baum, Dan. "California's Separate Peace." Rolling Stone 30 Oct. 1997: 43+ Brookhiser, Richard. "Lost in the Weed." U.S. News & World Report 3 Jan. 1997: 9 Buckley, William "Legalization of Marijuana Long Overdue" The Albuquerque Journal. Online. 8 June 1993.
Wingerchuk, Dean. "Cannabis for Medical Purposes: Cultivating Science, Weeding Out the Fiction." The Lancet 364.9431 (2004): 315-16. Print.
Lately it seems that drug policy and the war on drugs has been in the headlines quite a lot. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the policies that the United States government takes against illegal drugs are coming into question. The mainstream media is catching on to the message of organizations and individuals who have long been considered liberal "Counter Culture" supporters. The marijuana question seems to be the most prevalent and pressed of the drugs and issues that are currently being addressed. The messages of these organizations and individuals include everything from legalization of marijuana for medical purposes, to full-unrestricted legalization of the drug. Of course, the status quo of vote seeking politicians and conservative policy makers has put up a strong resistance to this "new" reform lobby. The reasons for the resistance to the changes in drug policies are multiple and complex. The issues of marijuana’s possible negative effects, its use as a medical remedy, the criminality of distribution and usage, and the disparity in the enforcement of current drug laws have all been brought to a head and must be addressed in the near future. It is apparent that it would be irresponsible and wrong for the government to not evaluate it’s current general drug policies and perhaps most important, their marijuana policy. With the facts of racial disparity in punishment, detrimental effects, fiscal strain and most importantly, the history of the drug, the government most certainly must come to the conclusion that they must, at the very least, decriminalize marijuana use and quite probably fully legalize it.
Illicit drug use and the debate surrounding the various legal options available to the government in an effort to curtail it is nothing new to America. Since the enactment of the Harrison Narcotic Act in 1914 (Erowid) the public has struggled with how to effectively deal with this phenomena, from catching individual users to deciding what to do with those who are convicted (DEA). Complicating the issue further is the ever-expanding list of substances available for abuse. Some are concocted in basements or bathtubs by drug addicts themselves, some in the labs of multinational pharmaceutical companies, and still others are just old compounds waiting for society to discover them.
Wilson, Clare “The Case for Marijuana by Prescription." Marijuana (Contemporary Issues Companion). Tardiff, Joseph, ed. Farmington Hills: Greenhaven Press, 2008. 63-70. Print
Concerned authorities have focused essentially on criminalization and punishment, to find remedies to the ever-increasing prevalent drug problem. In the name of drug reducing policies, authorities endorse more corrective and expensive drug control methods and officials approve stricter new drug war policies, violating numerous human rights. Regardless of or perhaps because of these efforts, UN agencies estimate the annual revenue generated by the illegal drug industry at $US400 billion, or the equivalent of roughly eight per cent of total international trade (Riley 1998). This trade has increased organized/unorganized crime, corrupted authorities and police officials, raised violence, disrupted economic markets, increased risk of diseases an...
A “drug-free society” has never existed, and probably will never exist, regardless of the many drug laws in place. Over the past 100 years, the government has made numerous efforts to control access to certain drugs that are too dangerous or too likely to produce dependence. Many refer to the development of drug laws as a “war on drugs,” because of the vast growth of expenditures and wide range of drugs now controlled. The concept of a “war on drugs” reflects the perspective that some drugs are evil and war must be conducted against the substances
Rosenthal, Ed, and Steve Kubby (2004) "Marijuana Should Be Legalized for Medical Use." Retrieved from Opposing Viewpoints: The War on Drugs.
Manchikanti, Laxmaiah. “National Drug Control Policy and Prescription Drug Abuse: Facts and Fallacies.” Pain Physician Journal 10 (May 2011): 399-424. Print.
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Drug abuse has been a hot topic for our society due to how stimulants interfere with health, prosperity, and the lives of others in all nations. All drugs have the potential to be misapplied, whether obtained by prescription, over the counter, or illegally. Drug abuse is a despicable disease that affects many helpless people. Majority of those who are beset with this disease go untreated due to health insurance companies who neglect and discriminate this issue. As an outcome of missed opportunities of treatments, abusers become homeless, very ill, or even worst, death.
Drug issue has always been a big issue troubling the whole world and the governments of all countries rack their brains to control drugs. In the past, people definitely held positive attitudes and thought the government should vigorously prohibit drugs and strictly crack down drug-related crimes. But the government’s prohibition of drugs turns out contrary to our expectation that drugs are more abused and the crimes following it also increase year by year. Therefore, people questioned the drug control of the government. “Legalize drugs-all of them” by Baird Vanessa. The author of this article discussed the policies of each country on drugs and the constantly increasing propositions which support the legalization of drugs. In the end of the article, the author also appealed to the American government to promote the legalization of drugs. However, I don’t support the author’s opinion. As far as I am concerned, once drugs are legalized, they will certainly do more harm to the society and the number of drug users will also greatly increase; the legalization of drugs probably can reduce some crimes, but it is not the best way to reduce crime rate; although the legalization of drugs can save the government’s spending on investigating drug smuggling and taxation can also increase the government's incomes, they are far less than the losses brought by the increase of drug users to the society; the legalization of drugs makes the morality of human face severe challenges.