New Delhi: Union health secretary Punya Salila Srivastava on Monday chaired an interactive meeting with state drug regulators to address the illicit use of psychotropic drugs under Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan and strengthen the regulatory capacities of States and UTs.
Srivastava said that regulatory standards need to be strong to ensure that only quality and effective medicines circulate in the country.
She urged state drug regulators to ensure that medicines are sold only through prescriptions so that NDPS drugs are not diverted for trafficking or other illicit uses.
Srivastava also complimented CDSCO and state drug regulators for completing risk-based inspections of 905 drug manufacturing and testing firms, resulting in 694 actions being taken so far.
According to Government data, opioids are the maximum used substance among children & adolescents (1.80 percent prevalence) between 10-17 years of age, followed by inhalants (1.17 percent) and cannabis (0.90 percent).
Similarly, cannabis is the substance used by the majority of adults between the age of 18-75 (3.30 percent prevalence) followed by opioids (2.10 percent) and sedatives (1.21 percent) used in India.
Top States With Maximum Drug Abuse Cases Registered
A total of 61642 drug abuse cases have been registered across India in 2024 with States like Kerala registering 18512 cases and 19914 arrests followed by 7153 cases in Punjab and 9729 arrests, Maharashtra 6708 cases and 6957 arrests and Uttar Pradesh 5028 cases and 6461 arrests.
Steps Taken to Prevent Trafficking Of Drugs
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)is continuously imparting training to the officers of other drug law enforcement agencies. Assistance is being provided by the Central Government to the States for the upgradation of existing forensic science laboratories in the states under different schemes.
Task Force On Darknet And Crypto-Currency
A task force on Darknet and Crypto-Currency has been set up under the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) mechanism with a focus on monitoring all platforms facilitating narco-trafficking, sharing of inputs on drug trafficking amongst agencies and MAC members, interception of drug networks, continuous capturing of trends, modus operandi & nodes with regular database updates and review of related rules & laws.
4-Tier Narco Coordination Centre
The Ministry of Home Affairs has established a 4-tier Narco Coordination Centre (NCORD) mechanism for ensuring better coordination between central & state drug law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders in the field of controlling drug trafficking and drug abuse in India.
All information related to drug law enforcement, topics like NCORD, training & capacity building, narco offenders data, legal information, exemplary initiatives taken by states etc. are covered on the NCORD portal.
NCB coordinates with other agencies like the Navy, Coast Guard, Border Security Forces (BSF), State ANTF etc. to conduct joint operations to control drug trafficking.
