‘BALANCING ACT’- AN ANALYSIS OF INDIA’S NATIONAL NARCOTIC POLICY

The article attempts an analysis of The National Narcotic Policy 2012 of the Government of India. The policy implications are wide and all encompassing. While adherence to international conventions has been a benchmark of sorts, it remains to be seen how justified is the present policy in tackling the growing menace of addiction, incidence of narco-terror links and most intriguing of all, the clamor for legalization of poppy cultivation by a section of farmers in Maharashtra and Punjab, the latter witnessing the worst drug scenario in the country with alarming number of Injecting Drug Users (IDU’s) facing the risk of HIV infection. Equally volatile situation persists in the north eastern part where states like Manipur and Nagaland have reported high drug users and HIV infections. Although a traditional licit cultivating country, only farmers at Neemuch (Madhya Pradesh) and Ghazipur (Uttar Pradesh) have legal sanction under stringent licensing to cultivate poppy. What exacerbates apprehensions is India’s location-sandwiched as it is, between the world’s notorious narcotic zones-the Golden Crescent and the Golden Triangle. Increasing evidence of insurgent-drug links has further exacerbated apprehensions over the drug dependence treatment and preventive strategies outlined in the policy.