Free ride for peddlers: Centre accused of ignoring Kerala’s plea to expand list of misused drugs

Thiruvananthapuram: As the Kerala government's recommendation to expand the list of drugs being misused for illegal purposes, including substance abuse, is rejected by the Central Government, the drug traffickers are escaping easily. It has been four years since the Excise Department recommended adding two more widely misused drugs to be included in the limits of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS).

These drugs have distributors and sellers in most districts. The North Indian drug distributors are reportedly the ones who sell these in huge quantities to the drug dealers to earn more profit. Even the parcel agencies are involved in facilitating this.

Since these are not included in the NDPS schedule, even when their sale and use are caught, the excise and police are unable to register cases. If those caught are handed over to the Drug Control Department, they can only be charged with illegal possession of the drug. The case will be settled in court after paying a fine.

Officials say that if the drugs were added to the NDPS list, offenders could be booked under non-bailable offences for possession without a prescription or for holding more than the prescribed quantity. If the cases pertain to possession of commercial-scale quantity, the punishment includes imprisonment from 10 to 20 years and fines up to Rs 2 lakh. Repeat offenders could face up to 30 years in prison.

(Due to the potential for abuse, the names of the drugs are omitted from the news.)