Tag: drug abuse

In Combating Drug Trafficking, Knowing the Enemy Is the First Step 

A countrywide assessment to estimate the extent of substance abuse is long overdue.

Around the world, narcotics trafficking has been found to be the most resilient and adaptive crime. In India, too, the pattern of narcotics trade and consumption has broadened into a bewildering kaleidoscope, manifesting itself in heightened organised crime, a narco-terror nexus and an exponential rise in substance abuse.

Unravelling the proportions of the narco trade from innovative smuggling techniques along traditional overland routes, the intensified use of sea routes, routine drone deliveries, burgeoning drug sales through darknet markets and the socio-economic implications of this drug influx is a formidable undertaking.

The sinister narco-terrorism angle poses a constant security threat. In its supplementary chargesheet relating to the 2021 Mundra Port narcotics seizure case in Gujarat, the National Investigation Agency has established that funds generated through the sale of heroin were provided to operatives of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) to further terrorist activities in India.

Considering that overland drug smuggling constitutes just 30% of the trade, the scale of narcotics being pushed across borders into India is astounding. Opiates, in particular heroin from Afghanistan trafficked through Pakistan, reaches India both for domestic consumption and for shipping towards European markets.

The northwest coastline along the Arabian Sea is the preferred route of traffickers. In May this year, 2,500 kilograms of methamphetamine worth around Rs 12,000 crore was seized from a vessel along the Kerala coast. This haul highlights not just the use of the southern sea route but the increasing demand for synthetic drugs/methamphetamine aka ‘glass’/‘ice’ which is cheaper than cocaine and more potent than heroin.

Given the proximity to Myanmar, the world’s second-largest producer of opium, illicit drug manufacturing units where heroin is processed are aplenty in India’s Northeast. Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland, among the easternmost states, are heavily engaged in the trafficking of ephedrine precursors for the manufacture of amphetamines and opioid analgesics like codeine and dextropropoxyphene for neighbouring countries. Lamenting the rampancy of drugs in the region, Manipur’s stringent activist Binalakshmi Nepram says that the conventional Golden Triangle has expanded into a “Golden Pentagon” with the induction of Vietnam-Cambodia and Mizoram-Manipur-Nagaland.

Cases of pharmaceutical companies with links to transnational organised criminals diversifying into the production of synthetic drugs, misusing licences to manufacture Tramadol painkiller tablets and codeine cough syrups for non-medical purposes, has added further complexity to the trafficking nexus.

The quantum of drugs smuggled via couriers, parcels and postal services, though it’s only a few grams per package to avoid suspicion, has quadrupled since 2019, coinciding with increased Dark Web activity in India.

Since the seizure of 300 kg of cocaine from Tuticorin Port in April 2021 by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), the frequency of cocaine consignments into India is yet another unsettling detail. The recent recovery of 3 kg of ‘black cocaine’, at Ahmedabad airport was the DRI’s first seizure of cocaine designed to evade detection.

Drone-assisted delivery of drugs, illicit weapons and cash has become recurrent. Pakistan-based smugglers have switched to smaller, stealthier drones to drop consignments into Punjab. Manufactured by the Chinese company DJI, these models are AI-assisted and more reliable than their precursors.

A countrywide assessment to estimate the extent of substance abuse is long overdue. The last comprehensive national survey, ‘Magnitude of Substance Use in India’ was published in 2019, following which the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment initiated the National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR)/Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan in 2020.

Last month, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment in its report, ‘Drug Abuse among Young Persons: Problems and Solutions’, recommended that the National Institute of Social Defence should undertake a survey to assess the impact of drug abuse.

Overseeing the destruction of more than 1,44,000 kg of drugs in various parts of the country through video-conferencing, Home Minister Amit Shah pitched for “confiscation of assets” as a strong deterrent, at a conference on ‘Drug Smuggling and National security’ in July.

Alongside strengthening law enforcement capacity, there is a need for offering access to de-addiction treatment. There are 535 de-addiction centres unevenly distributed across India. As per the recent parliamentary panel’s report as many as 6.97 lakh children (10-17 years) are hooked on drugs in Punjab, and in J&K there are 5 lakh opioid addicts. If one considers just these two states, the requisite number of de-addiction centres is flagrantly low. Under the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan it was proposed that 290 District De-addiction Centres would be set up in vulnerable districts, a plan that is yet to fructify.

Any proposition to deal with substance abuse must begin with a forthright assessment of the scale of the problem. Trends such as the increasing use of methamphetamine must be taken into account. The number of women addicted to drugs is rising alarmingly in states that already register high substance abuse.

The drug problem has captured national attention. Nevertheless discerning the deleterious effects of narcotics trafficking on a national scale is a formidable task. The complexity arises from the expansion and rising proportions of the drug influx, the environment within which it has succeeded in operating, the criminal-terror nexus that it has stimulated and the resultant social pathologies. A comprehensive counter-narcotics effort must perceive both a long-term strategic approach to disrupt trafficking and tackle the most salient public health challenges posed by illicit drugs.

Vaishali Basu Sharma is an analyst on strategic and economic affairs.

Parkash Singh Badal: The Leader Who Saw the Making of Punjab

During the course of his seven-decade-long political journey, he never missed the chance to speak about Sikhs, Punjab’s rights and communal harmony in Punjab.

Jalandhar: It was February 1984. Parkash Singh Badal and a host of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) workers reached Delhi’s famous Bangla Sahib Gurdwara and burnt a copy of Article 25 (B) of the Indian constitution, demanding the Union government to amend it and give separate identity to the Sikhs. That clause said that the “reference to Hindus shall be construed as including a reference to persons professing the Sikh, Jaina or Buddhist religion, and the reference to Hindu religious institutions shall be construed accordingly”.

Badal not only tore the copy of Article 25, he even wrote a letter to the United Nations raising the same demand. However, later Badal admitted several times that his actions were based on orders from Sant Harchand Singh Longowal, who was the president of SAD during the insurgency-hit Punjab of the 1980s.

A staunch supporter of federalism, Parkash Singh Badal breathed his last on April 25, 2023 at the age of 95. During the course of his seven-decade-long political journey, he never missed the chance to speak about Sikhs, Punjab’s rights and communal harmony in Punjab. He would take pride in the fact that Punjab never witnessed any communal clashes.

During his career, he witnessed the historical, religious and political developments of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s such as the Sikh-Nirankari clash of 1978, Operation Blue Star in 1984, the Rajiv-Longowal Accord in 1985 and the militancy in Punjab in the early 90s.

And in his main rival congress, Badal found the political ground to grow as the tallest leader of Punjab. His attacks against the Congress revolved around Operation Bluestar, its alleged anti-Sikh stance and corruption. He was known for maintaining cordial relations with everybody, a quality which earned him respect across party lines.

Tryst with BJP

By adopting moderate stand and politics following the SAD-BJP alliance during the historic Moga Conference of 1996, Badal started a new chapter in not just Akali politics but that of Punjab’s politics too.

During the Moga conference, Badal gave the slogan of ‘Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiyat’. Despite stiff opposition from the then SGPC chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra, Badal went ahead with the SAD-BJP alliance and ruled Punjab for two consecutive terms from 2007 to 2017. However, it often left the SAD juggling between the ideology of ‘Panthic party’ (focused on Sikh politics) and a ‘Punjabi party’.

The SAD’s journey with the BJP came to an end in 2020, severing ties with the party because of the three farm laws. But the damage had already been done. If its show of 18 seats in the 2017 assembly elections, owing to to aaparent failure to curb drug abuse and a lack of progress in sacrilege cases, was considered dismal, it was reduced to merely three seats in 2022. It clearly hinted at that the Akalis’ base was eroding in Punjab.

Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal. Photo: By arrangement

‘Art of compromised politics’

Director of World Punjabi Centre from Punjabi University, Patiala, Professor Balkar Singh said, “From being a common farmer, he became a sarpanch and a wealthy politician. His art of compromised politics, sometimes under pressure from the public and largely with the Centre, ensured his political success.”

Along with SGPC president Gurcharan Singh Tohra and ex-SAD president Sant Harchand Singh Longowal, Badal was one of the few leaders who not just led but was also well informed about the behind-the-scenes politics of fundamental issues like Punjabi Suba Morcha, Anandpur Sahib Resolution, Dharam Yudh Morcha and the agitation against Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal.

Jaspal Singh Sidhu, a former journalist who covered nearly all the major developments of Punjab, said Badal was the main leader of the Punjabi Suba (state) struggle. “Punjabi Suba came into existence in November 1966 but Chandigarh was not part of it. He did not do anything for it. Badal was the main architect of Dharam Yudh Morcha, which started on August 4, 1982 from the Golden temple. He was the first one to volunteer and court arrest for it. Badal’s political trajectory was like that: if needed, he would compromise with the public, else go in sync with the Centre,” he said.

The Dharam Yudh Morcha led to the protest against the SYL Canal.

The senior journalist also said that during the 1997 assembly elections, Badal announced the constitution of a Truth Commission to expose fake encounters and human rights violation cases in its election manifesto. “That Truth Commission never saw the light of the day. Leave taking action against the guilty police officers involved in fake encounters, Badal appointed most of them to key posts and left the victims begging for justice,” he added.

The senior journalist said while the BJP kept on expanding its centralist agenda, Badal as chief minister chose to brush aside Punjab’s interests for the sake of electoral gains. “The rout of SAD [in the previous two assembly elections] was primarily because it kept ignoring the interests of Sikhs and Punjab,” Sidhu said.

Also Read: In Parkash Singh Badal, Punjab Loses a Mass Leader

Overt and covert messaging

Badal also sought to commute the death sentence of Balwant Singh Rajoana, who was convicted for the assassination of former Punjab CM Beant Singh. In 2012 Badal and his son, then deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, handed a mercy petition to the President, seeking clemency for Rajaona. The latter was supposed to be hanged on March 31, 2012 but the Union government stayed it on March 29, 2012.

It was for this reason that the recently formed SAD-BSP alliance fielded Rajaona’s sister Kamaldeep Kaur as the ‘joint panthic candidate’ for the Sangrur by election in May 2022, where SAD (Amritsar) president Simranjit Singh Mann won.

The former CM was also known for subtly conveying even the toughest of messages. With a laugh, he would convey messages which hold deep meaning. At an event in Lovely Professional University, where the then president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai was the chief guest, CM Badal – while concluding his speech – asked Karzai to “stop the smuggling of heroin from Afghanistan” as it was affecting the youth of Punjab.

Senior congress leader and the first woman CM of Punjab Rajinder Kaur Bhattal shared an anecdote about Badal. “He was committed to his party and Punjab issues. During the Dharam Yudh Morcha, he could not attend his only daughter’s wedding because he was arrested,” she said.

Badal spent many years in jail during emergency and for participating in different morchas. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called him the Nelson Mandela of India during an event in Delhi in 2015.

When in power Badal undertook several populist measures like providing free power to farmers, Atta Dal scheme for the poor, Shagun scheme for the marriage of SC girls and distribution of cycles to girl students in government schools. All of them struck a chord with the voters.

In Badal’s demise, people not only lost a popular leader but a politician whose life spanned parallel to that of Punjab’s journey.

Drug Trafficking: Meghalaya HC Suggests Army Conduct Surprise Checks on Its Vehicles

The court suggested some remedial measures after it was informed that “for the safe passage of the drugs, high-ranking defence personnel may have been roped in”.

New Delhi: In a significant move, the Meghalaya high court has asked the Indian Army in the Northeast to take immediate remedial measures, including the possibility of conducting surprise checkings of their vehicles to ensure that drugs are not transported in army trucks. 

These trucks are generally not stopped for scrutiny at police checkpoints across the region.

A division bench of the HC comprising Justices Sanjib Banerjee and W. Diengdoh directed the orders to the general officer commanding the 101 Area and the director general of the Assam Rifles on March 30 while hearing a case based on a PIL filed by the chairperson of the Meghalaya State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MSCPCR) Meena Kharkongor on the easy availability of drugs in the state.

The HC’s March 30 order came in response to the amicus curiae’s detailed submission of certain places where drugs are prevalent in the state including the mention that an Army colonel posted in Manipur was detained in 2013 with Rs 15 crore worth of drugs. The officer was detained along with six others, including a member of his staff. Their vehicle was going towards Moreh on the India-Myanmar border.

“What if what is reported is true, there must also be intelligence reports received by the state in such regard and the chief secretary should coordinate with, inter alia, the Army and Assam Rifles, both to make the highest officials aware of the problem and for immediate action being taken,” the court order said.

Asking the Army top officials “to verify the position and take immediate remedial action”, the court said, “It may also do well for teams of flying army checkers to be deployed along the route to make surprise checks on Army vehicles which are otherwise not subjected to checks by civilian personnel.”

According to a Shillong Times report, the order praised the amicus curiae for their “meticulous work”, including visits to correctional homes, opioid substitution therapy (OST) centres. In this process, it was discovered from some drug users that “for the safe passage of the drugs, high-ranking defence personnel may have been roped in.”

“Unbelievable though such allegation is, it has to be noticed nonetheless that according to the relevant inmates, drugs are sometimes transported in army trucks, which are generally immune from checking,” the court said.

The sale and transportation of drugs have become a menace across the Northeast, which is also widely believed to be linked to the region’s political economy.

This past week, the Supreme Court had intervened in a sensational drug trafficking case in Manipur. The apex court asked the Manipur government why it has not appealed against the lower court’s acquittal of the politically connected main accused. The Wire conducted a detailed interview with one of the petitioners of the case, Imphal-based rights activist Babloo Loitongbam, which provides an insight into the issue.

Why India’s Drug Policy Should Pivot Towards Public Health and Harm Reduction

The NDPS Act 1985 fails to acknowledge drug addiction as a disease, requiring treatment and rehabilitation, rather than punitive action.

This article was originally published on The Wire Science, our website dedicated to science, health and environment reportage and analysis. Follow, read and share.

Drug addiction is a complex and widespread health issue in India and across the world. However, despite increasing crackdowns on drug cartels in India by law enforcement agencies, drug use and cases reported under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 are on the rise. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reported nearly 60,000 cases under the NDPS Act in 2020 – marking a two-fold increase in the last decade alone. This raises questions about the efficacy of current legal frameworks in deterring drug abuse and addiction, and the constraints of solely focusing on supply-side strategies.

The NDPS Act 1985 criminalises both ‘possession of drugs for personal use/consumption’ and ‘possession of drugs for trafficking’ thereby treating both consumers and peddlers of drugs as criminals. This fails to acknowledge drug addiction as a disease, requiring treatment and rehabilitation, rather than punitive action. Further, crime data suggests a disproportionate focus of law enforcement agencies on cases of personal consumption of drugs rather than the root issue of drug trafficking. What is even more concerning is that despite the increase in drug busts, treatment and rehabilitation in case of drug addiction continue to be a low priority. A nationwide study by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in 2019 found a treatment gap of 75% for drug use disorders, revealing that among those who need treatment for substance use disorders, very few receive it.

It is time for an effective and compassionate re-evaluation of India’s drug policy that is grounded in scientific evidence, rather than one solely based on repression, punishment and incarceration. Sound drug policies must consider the proportionality of criminal justice response, and prioritise public health and harm reduction i.e reducing the harms associated with drugs. This is based on the premise that treatment of drug use disorders is the key operational objective towards drug demand reduction.

What are some of the steps that a progressive government invested in people’s health and well-being may take? In the recently concluded Winter Session of Parliament, I submitted a Private Member’s Resolution towards a ‘Humane Drug Policy based on Public Health and Harm Reduction’ which was scheduled to be introduced on the 23rd of December, 2021. However, due to the premature conclusion of the session, the introduction did not take place – the following are the policy recommendations entailed in the resolution.

Firstly, the Union government must strongly consider amending the NDPS Act to decriminalise possession of “small quantities” of drugs for personal consumption (“small quantities” as defined in the NDPS Act 1985). The State must ensure that those apprehended for personal consumption of drugs are directed to compulsory de-addiction treatment or rehabilitation rather than being prosecuted and served punitive action. In the course of amending the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, the Government must also consider making a distinction between addicts, first-time drug users and recreational drug users.

Also read: India Needs To Start Looking at Addiction as a Psycho-Social Problem

Beyond legislative action, there are various steps that must be taken in terms of policy implementation. Firstly, beyond policing activities, the National Fund to Control Drug Abuse must be effectively utilised for de-addiction programmes and other evidence-based treatment facilities for substance use disorders. While the current NDPS Act provides for some scope of rehabilitation, implementation, in reality, is very poor. People who use drugs must be able to access such services without the threat of punitive sanctions. Secondly, the Government must direct regular state-level surveys to assess the extent of substance abuse disorders, degree of drug dependence and related health implications such as viral hepatitis and HIV. Such regular micro-data collection would capture at-risk districts and at-risk population groups, and thereby better inform policy response.

The Northeast region is particularly susceptible to drug abuse, given that several states in the region serve as major routes for the distribution of narcotics to the rest of the country due to the geographical location. A combination of environmental and structural factors, such as under-development and insurgency, have made local youth highly vulnerable to drug abuse. Despite a lower population, several states in the Northeast see higher illicit drug use than the national average, and worryingly higher prevalence of HIV, primarily from intravenous drug users. Therefore, alongside the ongoing crackdown on drug traffickers, it is necessary to provide health and welfare services to individuals and communities affected by substance use.

A 2015 UN study titled ‘Women Who Use Drugs in Northeast India’ examined how such women have substantially different needs and higher risks than their male counterparts, and therefore the need for formulating policies and programmes that cater to these specific needs and risks. It is crucial to foreground the fact that drug policies disproportionately affect marginalised communities. Thus the health and well-being of such communities must be prioritised while framing India’s illicit drug policies.

There is an urgent need to prioritise treatment, education and rehabilitation – for stigma, shame and silence only perpetuate this illness. Channelling funds that would otherwise be utilised primarily for incarceration, substantially towards treatment and rehabilitation will go a long way towards addressing the root of drug addiction. As a society, we must collectively envision and take steps to minimise the stigma and discrimination. There is a need to move beyond a criminal justice approach, to a human rights and health-led approach to drug addiction together with legal regulation and control.

Pradyut Bordoloi is a Congress Lok Sabha MP from Nowgong, Assam. He received assistance from Evita Rodrigues, LAMP fellow, for this piece.

The Case for Legalising and Regulating Cannabis

Even though marijuana is prohibited, we can’t seem to make it go away. But it can be made safer.

On November 7, 2019, the Delhi high court sought the government’s stand on a petition filed by the Great Legalisation Movement India Trust to decriminalise the use of cannabis. The petitioner has challenged the provisions of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 which criminalise the use of cannabis as violative of various provisions of the constitution of India.

The main psychoactive compound in marijuana that gives a “euphoric” sensation is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). There is evidence to show that THC is related to psychosis. Marijuana also contains a substance called CBD (cannabidiol), which seems to counteract its effect. CBD is a non-psychoactive compound and that means it doesn’t produce the “high/euphoria” associated with THC.

CBD is even being tested as a treatment against psychosis and anxiety. A 2017 King’s College London study found that participants treated with CBD had fewer psychiatric symptoms than those who received a placebo. Dr. Philip McGuire, lead author of the 2017 study, remarked:

“Although it is still unclear exactly how CBD works, it acts in a different way to antipsychotic medication and thus could represent a new class of treatment. Moreover, CBD was not associated with significant side effects. This is also potentially important, as patients may be reluctant to take antipsychotic medication because of concerns about side effects.”

Since CBD doesn’t give you the “high”, growers have gradually decreased the amount of CBD in marijuana over the last few decades, while simultaneously increasing THC levels. Sample testing showed that THC levels have risen from around 4% in the 1990s to nearly 12% in 2014, shifting the ratio of THC to CBD from 1:14 in 1995 to about 1:80 in 2014.

Though it is unclear as to how precise those tests were, recent findings suggest that the more marijuana you consume, and the stronger it is, the higher your risk of developing psychosis. Again, the question of how high the risk of psychosis is for the general population is unclear.

Also read: How Cannabis Jumped from ‘Colonial Science’ to Western Medicine – in Calcutta

A study from Britain found that while marijuana use has risen significantly between 1996 and 2005, the number of schizophrenia cases – a type of psychosis – remained stable. The risk of marijuana-induced psychosis remains the highest for people who already have a high risk of psychosis, to begin with. For them, it seems more likely that marijuana speeds up the development of their condition, rather than causing it.

So the argument goes, if fewer people have access to marijuana, the lower the risk of marijuana-induced psychosis. Agreed, but one could argue, precisely since marijuana is illegal, there is a greater chance people addicted to marijuana will end up with psychosis.

Past experiences with prohibition

Prohibition makes illegal drugs stronger and more potent. This is what happened during the prohibition of alcohol in the US. Although the consumption of alcohol fell at the beginning of the Prohibition, it subsequently increased. Alcohol became more dangerous to consume; crime increased and became “organised”. No measurable gains were made in productivity or reduced absenteeism.

Prohibition removed a significant source of tax revenue and greatly increased government spending. It led many drinkers to switch to opium, marijuana, patent medicines, cocaine, and other dangerous substances that they would have been unlikely to encounter in the absence of Prohibition.

Prohibition also led many people to drink more “legitimate” alcohol, such as patent medicines (which contained high concentrations of alcohol), medicinal alcohol, and sacramental alcohol. One New Jersey businessman claimed that there were ten times more places one could get a drink during Prohibition than there had been before. Potent marijuana with high levels of THC has gained traction over the years.

The numbers also show that stringent laws don’t deter people from using marijuana. A study by Alex Stevens, professor of Criminal Justice at Kent’s School for Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research found there is no evidence to suggest that teenage cannabis use is lower in countries with tougher policies.

Recently another study, ‘2018 Cannabis Price Index’ conducted by ABCD revealed Delhi to be the third-highest consumer of cannabis in the world, only behind New York and Karachi. Mumbai also featured at sixth position on that list. For perspective, pot – legal in Amsterdam  – ranks at a lowly 56th place on the index. We can’t make marijuana go away, but it can be made safer.

An employee tends to a medical cannabis plants at Pharmocann, an Israeli medical cannabis company in northern Israel January 24, 2019. Photo: Reuters/Amir Cohen/File Photo

If marijuana were legal, there would be more options for consumers, and regulators could, for example, insist on a high level of CBD. Just like most people don’t drink an after-work bottle of vodka, many people might gladly consume the after-work beer version of marijuana.

For instance, in most states that have regulated marijuana in the US, only cannabis extract containing no more than 0.5% THC and no less than 10% CBD, by weight is allowed. States like Kentucky have completely banned THC from their permitted extracts. Legalising marijuana could also open the gates to a ton of new research. In 2018, the FDA approved a drug comprised of an active ingredient derived from marijuana to treat rare, severe forms of epilepsy. Research is difficult when the drug in itself is illegal.

Gateway drug hypotheses

Another argument suggests that marijuana is a ‘gateway drug‘. This hypothesis states that there is a causal sequence through classes of drugs, whereby the use of “less harmful” substances is a risk factor for using “harder drugs”. There are two proposed reasons for this:

  1. Experimentation: Trying a drug like marijuana increases the taste (and perceived pleasure) for other drugs, leading to further experimentation.
  2. Social groups: When a person using marijuana associates with other people who use marijuana, then it is likely they will become exposed to other drugs and substances too. This means there’s an increased opportunity and access to “heavier” substances.

Research shows that 45% of lifelong marijuana users have taken some other illegal drugs at some point. It can be argued that legalising marijuana could reinforce this trend as if more young people try legal marijuana, they might end up trying harder drugs.

But, the real gateway to drugs come in much earlier. A study showed that tobacco products could act as gateway drugs, opening the door to use of illicit drugs. The likelihood of initiating the use of tobacco or other licit drugs before using illicit drugs is much greater than the opposite process. A report suggests that only 2% of those using both tobacco and cannabis reported having used cannabis before tobacco.

Notwithstanding the same, the issue of cannabis being a gateway drug is much more complex, as multiple confounding factors suggest that a person’s drug usage trajectory might not be linked to previous exposure to cannabis. Instead, subsequent drug choice might be due to the independent characteristics that led the individual to be at risk for using illicit drugs in the first place.

Studies show that certain conditions make people especially vulnerable to drugs and addiction. A troubled childhood, trauma, low social status, depression, loneliness, and even genetics could be factors. To escape these issues, people turn to drugs. Only, drugs don’t solve any of the problems and instead, becomes a new problem. The underlying causes have to be addressed and punishing addicts is not helpful.

Portugal has shown us the lead in tackling this issue. Portugal had one of the worst drug epidemics in the world. This prompted the government to take a novel step. In 2001, it decriminalised all drugs (including heroin). Possession and use of drugs were treated as health issues and not crimes. Anyone caught with less than a ten-day supply of any drug — including heroin — received mandatory medical treatment. With no judge, no courtroom and no jail, the number of drug addicts, the usage of hard drugs and diseases due to overdoes decreased.

A bud of cannabis. Photo: Reuters

Also read: The Juul Comes to School – But Also to the Aid of Adult Smokers in India

On December 11, 2018, Norman Lamb, a former liberal democrat MP moved a bill to legalise possession and consumption of cannabis in England. He raised four major points:

“I want to make four key points. First, nowhere across the world has prohibition worked—cannabis is available everywhere. Secondly, people have no idea what they are buying. We know that leaving supply in the hands of criminals puts teenagers in particular at risk. They are most susceptible to suffering mental health consequences, including psychosis, from regular use of potent strains available on the street.

The widespread use of those dangerous strains is the result of our failure to regulate. A regulated market would allow the Government to control the safety and potency of cannabis sold by legal vendors. Through a misplaced desire to be “tough on drugs”, we leave teenagers vulnerable to exploitation from sellers who have no interest at all in their welfare. Through inaction, Government and Parliament are culpable. If something is potentially dangerous to children and young people, we must control it and regulate it, not leave it freely available from those keen to make a fast buck.

Thirdly, we know that the illegal market for drugs generates extreme violence in many communities, and particularly the most disadvantaged. If a supplier faces competition, they do not resort to the courts to protect their market; they use extreme violence. Thousands of people have lost their lives as a result of illegal trade in drugs in countries such as Mexico, but on the streets of our poorest communities, violence is meted out regularly. Young vulnerable teenagers get caught up in this violent trade and cannot escape. It does not have to be like this.

Fourthly, we still criminalise thousands of people every year, taking up precious police time that could be used to fight serious crime. Careers are blighted for using a substance that no doubt many Members on the Government Benches have used at some stage of their lives. Meanwhile, the most harmful drug of all is consumed in large quantities right here in this building.

Alcohol leads to violence on our streets and behind closed doors in people’s homes. It destroys families up and down our country, yet we tax it, and the Exchequer benefits enormously from it. Is there not dreadful hypocrisy in the fact that we allow our drug of choice while criminalising people who use another, less dangerous drug, many for the relief of pain?”

In response to the above, former Conservative MP Steve Double responded stating:

“My concern is that, by liberalising cannabis use, we would send precisely the wrong message to our young people. We would be giving them the message that cannabis is safe and okay to use. We need to make very clear that cannabis is a dangerous drug and that there is no safe consumption of cannabis in an uncontrolled, unregulated way. We are clearly in the midst of a war on drugs, but we will not win the war by raising the white flag, giving up and surrendering. No war has ever been won by surrendering”

In jurisprudence, the theory of expressive law sees the policy as a device for signalling a moral position or social norm, which may influence behaviour either directly by inducing individuals to internalise that norm and effecting a change in preferences, or, indirectly, by highlighting a particular social equilibrium and influence equilibrium selection.

Also read: Scrutinizing the Future of UK’s Nascent Cannabis Industry

The problem though is Prohibition as expressive law may strengthen adherence to the non-consumption social norm among the ‘establishment’ group, while simultaneously strengthening the dissident identity of the counter-culture group who are at highest risk starting cannabis use. Around 3 million people die every year due to alcohol abuse each year, while smoking kills more than 8 million people. Though legal,  alcohol and tobacco are still portrayed as hazardous substances.

Governance would aid curbing the upsurge in drug abuse. Regulation allows cannabis buyers to moderate their intake. As seen in the case of the US, a patient roster, a list of licensed vendors, substance control (CBD percentage, etc) could be maintained to prevent abuse. Legality creates incentives that drug dealers can’t exploit. Contrary to Steve Double’s view, legalising marijuana does not mean endorsing it. It means taking responsibility for the risks it possesses.

R. Vigneshwar is an advocate practising at the Madras high court.

Researchers and Addicts Alike Turn to Online Forums to Tackle Drug Abuse

Semi-anonymous forums on places like Reddit and Bluelight give researchers insight into the world of those who try to quit drugs on their own.

Ryan Le Blanc got his first dose of opioids at three months old, after surgery for a unilateral cleft palate. Now in his late 20s, the English-as-a-second language teacher has gone through about 15 more surgeries of varying severity.

With each operation came new painkillers. At 14, while living in New England, Le Blanc started buying and using illegal opioids for fun. By 16, he was injecting heroin, a habit that he carried from high school through college graduation.

As a teenager, Le Blanc came across Bluelight.org, a drug forum now more than 20 years old. He read post after post — innumerable lines of text and images about the substances he was taking, how to take them safely, and how to quit.

Today, these threads aren’t just of interest to the site’s users. As the opioid epidemic worsens, claiming about 130 lives a day in 2018 in the US alone, a cadre of researchers is looking for solutions to addiction and overdoses in the sprawl of drug forums. The researchers say that drug forums on the dark net — a catch-all for internet hubs that are often encrypted or unavailable through regular search engines — along with more mainstream counterparts like Bluelight and drug-related threads on the website Reddit, might be a medical or research tool in their own right.

For instance, in research published this past spring, Stevie Chancellor, a postdoctoral fellow in computer science at Northwestern University, used computational linguistics and machine learning — a subset of artificial intelligence — to find how forum-goers on Reddit attempt to get sober. “We wanted to unearth the things the doctors didn’t even know about,” said Chancellor.

Chancellor and other academics, as well as advocates of harm reduction — a philosophy that seeks to minimize the negative aspects of drug use — believe drug forums can provide insight into a secretive subset of society. The forums could also provide a route to reach users with potentially life-saving information about drugs.

Working with these communities isn’t without controversy. Some researchers in this relatively new field have trouble collecting data, particularly when law enforcement busts up an illicit marketplace. But both researchers and folks who use the forums to quit drugs believe there’s value in the chatter.

Also read: How India Could Fuel the Global Synthetic Drug Epidemic

In Chancellor’s machine-learning study, she and her colleagues built a computer program to recognise distinct words and phrases in nearly 1.5 million posts on 63 subreddits where people discussed opioid addiction recovery. The program found many Redditors who were trying to quit heroin and fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid, were using other drugs to do it.

Chancellor was surprised, but the approach is common on the forums, though sometimes discouraged by moderators and other users: People may use alcohol, cannabis, and heavier drugs to quell withdrawal symptoms. Le Blanc was no exception.

At 22, he tried to quit opioids using other drugs, although three years later, after a family intervention, he entered a formal methadone program, which uses a lower grade narcotic to wean users off harder drugs. As of a few months ago, he quit using maintenance drugs, working towards true sobriety to be free of opioids altogether.

Chancellor’s team found other examples of drugs that Redditors leaned on to quit opioids: Benzodiazepines like Valium or Xanax; the anti-diarrheal drug Imodium; ibogaine, a psychoactive plant substance with alleged anti-addiction properties; and kratom, a powdered preparation of a plant that, taken in large enough doses, can cause opioid-like sensations. Others used relatively weak opioids such as codeine to step back from heroin or fentanyl. And the forum-goers also developed elaborate dosing regimens to get through a work day relatively unscathed by withdrawal.

Any benefit from self-administered treatments would need to be verified or tweaked by medical professionals, Chancellor said. Mixing some of these drugs can be deadly. Even Imodium, when taken at recreational doses — more than 15 times the therapeutic dose — can cause severe heart problems.

The fact that people are using such an array of drugs to quit opioids is a clinical and medical blindspot, Chancellor said: “I think there’s a lot of potential for communities to back-inform what could be productive investigations for medical researchers.”

Online forums may provide other useful data and anecdotes for researchers. For Monica Barratt — a psychologist and sociologist at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia, as well as Bluelight’s director of research — they could hold the answer to a complex question. How has the rise of dark net markets impacted public health?

Barratt studies the intersection between drugs and the internet. Through interviews and surveys with these secretive communities, as well as forensic data from local police, she hopes, in part, to discover if the availability of mail-order illicit substances encourages more people to use drugs, or if they would be using them anyway. So far it seems to be the latter, Barratt said.

Indeed, the forums can also be a relatively judgement-free place for users to turn to when looking to quit drugs. For some, choosing a DIY detox — including those studied by Chancellor — is a matter of preference. But for others, it’s a matter of necessity. In rural areas — including New England, where Le Blanc experienced detoxing first-hand — the few addiction clinics are spread thinly across the region. Patients may travel hours each day for medication.

With no real option for in-person treatment, internet-savvy drug users who want to detox have few choices: They can detox blindly, or turn to their peers’ collective knowledge online. Barrat argues that the latter can provide “a safe place for people to talk about what’s going on and to ask questions.” The semi-anonymous nature of the markets may also cut down on some of the violence that comes with street-level dealing, like robbery, theft, and assault, other research has suggested.

Despite the upsides for some people who want to quit opioids, the dark net still poses problems both for law enforcement and users. Alongside the forums for detoxing are others dedicated to taking drugs, as well as marketplaces that sell drugs like heroin tainted with fentanyl.

Also read: Opioid Manufacturers Paid Millions to Advocacy Groups, Says Report

While the drugs are online, the dark net is not a big contributor compared to the broader global illegal drug trade, said Neil Walsh, chief of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) cybercrime and anti-money laundering units. Online sales are similar in amount and cost to a street level dealer — priced to sell in small doses, not in bulk.

Still, Walsh added, the everyday internet and the dark net can connect large scale dealers with the laboratories that produce drugs like fentanyl, or the chemicals needed to make them. The online marketplaces also offer chemicals that aren’t typically found on a street corner. These “designer drugs” or “research chemicals” are intentionally obscure and — until laws change to ban them — chemically different enough from better-known drugs to be technically legal.

Despite the dark net’s relatively small piece of the drug trade, law enforcement agencies around the world are trying to shut down its markets. By some accounts, the approach is working. According to Walsh, after Operation Bayonet in 2017 — an international law enforcement effort which closed two large markets called AlphaBay and Hansa Market — there was a noticeable decline in customers buying drugs from the dark net. And according to the 2019 UNODC’s World Drug Report 2019, 15 percent of customers reported using the dark net less frequently after the closures, and 9 percent said they stopped buying from the markets entirely.

But many people just move to new markets. With the collapse of the major players in drug-selling crypto-markets, Walsh added, buyers dispersed to many of the smaller markets scattered across the dark net. And there is also an uptick in some regions, according to the 2019 Global Drug Survey, which reported that the English-speaking world has seen a steady increase in people who have reported using drugs purchased over the dark net for the past six years.

The closure of dark net drug markets has also had an unforeseen downside, at least in research: The increasingly lack of anonymity has led to an erosion of trust. For some researchers, this can make tracking down willing participants difficult. And for some harm reduction advocates, the looming threat of police crackdowns can be cause for worry.

Angus Bancroft, a sociologist at the University of Edinburgh, is still in the early stages of his research, but it’s already difficult to track down customers willing to talk.

Much like Chancellor, Bancroft hopes to use machine learning to study drug use and recovery in online communities, though mostly he’s looking at the dark net, rather than the forums out in the open.

His team has begun early work on a computer program and preliminary talks with the operators of a few dark net forums. But police are simultaneously trying to close down the forums, which has made the people who post there wary.

“With the dark net, I think you need a longer engagement to build up trust,” Bancroft said.

If Bancroft can get enough participants, his team plans to create a computer program that can recognize shifts in drug habits and the emergence of new chemicals on dark net markets. Bancroft hopes to use the findings to pull in relevant harm reduction information, and use both dark net forums and sites like Bluelight as a way to spread it to the users.

Bancroft’s work may be something relatively new to academia, but it’s following in the footsteps of other harm reduction advocates such as Fernando Caudevilla, a family physician based in Madrid, Spain.

Also read: Indian-Origin Doctor Indicted in Healthcare Fraud in US Freed on USD 7 Mn Bond

Caudevilla may also serve as a cautionary tale. Between April and October in 2013, he posted on Silk Road’s drug forums as DoctorX, answering 321 public questions about drug use and safety before the FBI closed it down. Silk Road’s operator, Ross Ulbricht was later arrested.

The next month, the remaining Silk Road staff started Silk Road 2.0. There, Caudevilla answered 352 public questions before the market, too, was closed down in 2014 by a joint FBI-Europol operation called Operation Onymous. After Caudevilla spoke in defense of Ulbricht in his trial in 2015, backlash from the American media and government caused him to log off from the dark net, he said.

But that hasn’t stopped Caudevilla from continuing his work on the regular web. He has shifted his responses from around 250 of the most pertinent questions he had answered on the dark net forums, and moved them to the website for Energy Control, a Spanish harm-reduction organization. The organization also regularly checks samples of drugs purchased off the dark net, which users send in to check for harmful chemicals like fentanyl.

In one case in 2018, Energy Control found the source of the fentanyl, and the marketplace banned the seller and the sale of fentanyl and similar drugs. Not everyone on the dark net is evil, Caudevilla said. Some are honest and willing to collaborate with harm reduction efforts.

“It’s not perfect,” he said. “But I think it can achieve good things.”

Le Blanc, now a moderator on Bluelight, agrees. As a veteran of the cross-section of drugs and the internet, he said he truly believes there is life-saving information on the forums.

“We’re the ones who say ‘Okay, we’re gonna tell you how to do this even though it’s really not a smart thing to be doing. Here is the most reasonable way of approaching this situation that you are in,’” Le Blanc said. “That’s harm reduction in a nutshell.”

Doug Johnson is a Canadian writer, editor, and journalist.

This article was originally published on Undark. Read the original article.

‘Are You Ostriches?’: Bombay HC Rebukes Certification Board Over Censoring Children’s Film

The petition was filed by the Children’s Film Society India seeking the grant of the universal (U) certification to their film ‘Chidiakhana’.

On Friday, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) received sharp criticism from the Bombay High Court when a petition seeking the grant of the universal (U) certification for the film Chidiakhana was being heard.

In strongly-worded observations, a division bench of Justices S.C. Dharmadhikari and Gautam Patel said that it may have to redefine the role of the CBFC entirely as the latter thinks that it was the “only one with an iota of intelligence to decide for everyone”.

Justice Patel said, “You [CBFC] are a certification board and not a censor board. You will not decide what one wants to watch and see. Nobody has given CBFC the intellectual morality and authority to decide what one wants to watch and see.”

The said petition was filed by the Children’s Film Society India (CFSI) which is a nodal organisation of the Government of India that produces children’s films and TV programs in various Indian languages. It came after the CBFC, in January, asked them to remove a particular curse word and another scene from the movie. CFSI complied after which, in June, the HC asked the CBFC for a response.

Here the CBFC advocate said that board now felt that the film’s theme and presentation mandate a U/A certification. Among the problematic themes and narratives are the scenes of attempted suicide/murder, violence, bullying and a mother slapping her child, according to the original regional officer’s email.

As opposed to the universal certification, a U/A requires adult supervision of kids below the age of 12 to be able to watch a particular film – which, ironically, in this case – is a children’s film.

Also read: How ‘Article 15’ Addresses Caste Blindness While Critiquing ‘New India’

The court wondered if, by their decision to remove certain scenes showing bullying or abuse, the CBFC is denying the reality of these issues. They noted that such films can, in fact, be used to educate children about issues like caste discrimination and child labour.

“Are you ostriches? Put your head in the sand and pretend something does not exist!” said Justice Patel, “How else does one show and explain these issues to a child? Is it not better to show such films to the child and explain that this is what happens and this is wrong.”

“You are forming an opinion that the whole population is imbecilic and infantile and you are the only one with an iota of intelligence to decide for everyone,” the court said referring to the 2016 controversy over Udta Punjab, which was a film based on drug abuse. 

The board had given 13 suggestions to film’s producers, which effectively meant a mammoth 94 cuts, along with an A certification for the film that focuses on Punjab’s drug problem. However, the case reached the Bombay high court, where Justice Dharmadhikari – who is on the bench in this case as well – rebuked the board and cleared the film with just one cut.

On Friday, Justice Dharmadhikari said that the CBFC had not learnt their lesson.

The film Chidiakhana tells the story of a boy from Bihar, who moves to Mumbai to pursue his dream of playing football.

The Bench directed the CBFC’s Regional Officer to file an affidavit elaborating and outlining the board’s policy while certifying children’s films.

The matter will now be heard on August 5.

Featured image credit: Adam Jones/Flickr 

How India Could Fuel the Global Synthetic Drug Epidemic

The largely under-regulated manufacture, sale and consumption of highly potent and addictive substances like fentanyl, tramadol and alprazolam (Xanax) not only threatens Indians, but also global populations.

Today, June 26, is observed as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. However, as the developed world moves towards progressive drug policy reforms, India continues to be caught in a dangerous vortex of trafficking and substance abuse.

No, it’s not exactly what you may have seen in Udta Punjab. Although needles and lifeless bodies are recurring motifs, the substances in question are not the usual suspects (heroin, cannabis or cocaine).

India, it would seem, has developed a particular liking for the trafficking and abuse of pharmaceutical drugs: a concoction of pills and syrups that you would normally be prescribed by a doctor to alleviate pain or a rankling cough.

In February 2019, AIIMS’s National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre released a report in which 2.06% of India’s population (which translates to 27 million people) was estimated to be using opioids, while 0.55% of Indians were in need of help for their addiction problems.

Blister packs, not baggies

As anti-drug trafficking agencies like the Narcotics Control Bureau and special police task forces crack down on the illicit trafficking of heroin and methamphetamine from Afghanistan and Southeast Asia transiting through India, traffickers and addicts have cottoned on to the risks involved in dealing with traditional source countries. Instead, they’ve turned to the neighbourhood chemists and the domestic pharma markets as their new drug dealers.

The largely under-regulated manufacture, sale and consumption of highly potent and addictive substances like fentanyl, tramadol and alprazolam (Xanax) not only threatens the Indian masses, but also global populations.

In January 2019, the Delhi Police Special Cell seized 10 kg of tramadol, 1.3 million tablets of various other narcotics, including alprazolam, 500 grams of ketamine and 100 vials of ketamine and lignocaine injections. Five persons, including a British citizen, were arrested for the illicit trafficking of banned narcotics.

“The [accused] told us this shipment was going to the UK, Nepal and Malaysia,” DCP (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar told The Wire.

“Pharmaceutical drugs like alprazolam, tramadol and other precursors like pseudoephedrine are now mostly being smuggled to America, West Africa and Middle East. Some of these especially [go] to Central America for smuggling into [the] US,” an officer of the NCB told The Wire on the condition of anonymity.

Also read: Opioid Manufacturers Paid Millions to Advocacy Groups, Says Report

More recently, on May 11, the NCB made the biggest drug haul in India’s history. Officers reportedly recovered 1,818 kg of pseudoephedrine from an IPS officer’s house in Noida along with 2 kg cocaine – collectively worth around Rs 1,000 crore.

Pseudoephedrine is a substance commonly found in cold medication, but is also an essential ingredient in the manufacture of methamphetamine (the blue crystal meth from Breaking Bad). The accused Nigerian national reportedly admitted that the seized goods would be used for the manufacture and sale of illicit drugs, both in India and abroad.

The Indian pharma industry’s role in drug abuse and trafficking

India is the third largest pharmaceutical industry in the world in terms of volume and tenth in terms of value: exports reached $17.2 billion in 2018. In 1970, the Patents Act removed composition patents on foods and drugs, effectively enabling India to reverse-engineer processes for manufacturing all kinds of generic drugs at low costs. But some of these drugs get diverted for non-medical uses – in India and abroad – as indicated by the instances above.

While these substances are technically controlled, their diversion for trafficking and abuse happens primarily because of weak regulatory implementation and monitoring.

International counter-narcotic agencies have already flagged India as the largest source of tramadol trafficking. Tramadol – a synthetic opioid pain-killer – has become the driver of the entrenched opioid epidemic in West Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia. Moreover, while fentanyl is at the centre of the North American opioid epidemic, tramadol abuse is on an unchecked rise there, too.

According to the UN World Drug Report 2018, the non-medical use of prescription drugs continues to be a growing threat. Almost 76% of drug-related deaths worldwide are attributed to opioid-based pain-killer abuse.

Almost 87 tonnes of illicit synthetic opioids were seized globally in 2016-17 – roughly the same amount as heroin for the same period. More than 80% of that was tramadol – mostly seized in West, Central and North Africa and the Middle East. And most of it originated from India.

Also read: A New Family for Glue-Sniffing Street Kids in Dhaka

The International Narcotics Control Bureau, in a note to the World Health Organisation, said that substances like tramadol and fentanyl are being abused because of the illicit trafficking of both – legally and illegally manufactured substances – from countries like India and China.

The UNODC reports that most of the tramadol seized worldwide in 2017-18 originated from India and, to a lesser extent, China.

But just as tramadol took the authorities by surprise, its emergence should be a cautionary tale for other dangerous substances being manufactured in India.

Shifting focus on India as a source of illicit substances

Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid drug used as an analgesic (pain killer). It far stronger than traditional morphine and heroin – 50 to 100 times more potent. It is legally prescribed to counter the extreme pain of end-stage cancer and surgery. But illicitly sourced fentanyl, mixed with heroin and other drugs, is driving the unprecedented number of drug-overdose deaths in North America, Europe and even India.

As China – previously the world’s largest producer and source of illicit fentanyl – begins to heavily regulate the substance (due to pressure from the US), experts believe that manufacturing and export could shift to another pharma-giant with equally less regulation and potentially more exploitable avenues – India.

From 2014 to 2017, the number of fatal drug overdoses in the US skyrocketed from 44,000 to 70,237. Out of that, 47,600 deaths were reportedly opioid overdose deaths. While fentanyl was responsible for only 3,105 opioid related deaths in 2014, that number shot up to 28,466 in 2017 – making up 60% of all opioid-related deaths that year and marking an 800% overall increase.

There is ever-increasing demand for illicit fentanyl and a well-equipped supplier. According to the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission report, China used to be the major source of illicit fentanyl into North America, while India’s contribution made up a fraction of it. However, as China’s role declines, India is expected to fill in its shoes in the coming years.

Also read: For the Poor, Prohibition Leaves a Trail of Destruction in Bihar

While China now controls upwards of 100 fentanyl precursors and analogues, India only regulates 17 of the 24 precursors used to make it and only a handful of its analogues – which range into hundreds of versions that differ very slightly from the original to avoid running afoul of laws. And despite placing tramadol under the NDPS Act in April 2018, illicit trafficking remains as active as ever.

If China successfully controls illicit fentanyl production, it is very possible that chemists in India will step in to supplement the demand. And the writing on the wall is that India will likely take up that mantle. As new substances are being discovered, manufactured and trafficked every day, it makes sense to stay ahead of the curve – rather than always play catch-up.

Two Held for Ramming Vehicle Into Group After Eid Prayers in Delhi’s Shahdara

The accused was involved in cases of vehicle theft and robbery, and lost control of the vehicle while trying to leave the area.

New Delhi: Two persons have been arrested for allegedly ramming a car into a group of people as they came out of a mosque after offering Eid prayers in east Delhi’s Shahdara area on Wednesday, police said on Thursday.

The car involved in the accident was stolen, they said, adding that it was being driven by a 26-year-old man. There was no report of any casualty in the incident.

The accused Shahrukh, a resident of Govindpura in Jagatpuri, and his 24-year-old female associate were arrested subsequently, the police said, adding that a car and a scooter were seized from their possession.

Shahrukh, allegedly a drug addict, was involved in 27 cases of vehicle theft and robbery, they said. “The police identified Shahrukh with the help of CCTV footage and arrested him, along with his female associate, in the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday from a spot near the Kashmiri Gate,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) Meghna Yadav said.

During interrogation, the accused revealed that he had stolen the car from the Madhu Vihar area.

Shahrukh’s family had disowned him due to his drug addiction, a senior police officer said, adding that he used to sleep in the car at night.

On Wednesday morning, he noticed a heavy police deployment in the area, due to which he got scared and tried to flee, the police said, adding that as he hit the streets of Khureji, he lost control of the vehicle and rammed it into the crowd. After the incident, Shahrukh had fled towards Anand Vihar, they said.

The accused allegedly stole a scooter from Anand Vihar on Wednesday night. He and his female associate were fleeing towards the Kashmiri Gate on the scooter, when they were nabbed, the police said.

A case was lodged against the accused under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) and 307 (attempt to murder) at the Jagatpuri police station, the police said.

Besides, a case under relevant sections of the IPC was also registered against unidentified people for allegedly vandalising a DTC bus, they added.

The action was taken after videos surfaced showing a group people smashing the windshield of a DTC bus after the incident, the police said.

Pakistan’s Anti-Drug Court Gives Life Term to PML-N’s Poll Candidate

The Control of Narcotics Substances (CNS) court in Rawalpindi handed life imprisonment to PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi, who was convicted for misusing ephedrine chemical.

Islamabad: Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party today suffered a blow when one of its leading candidates for the July 25 general elections was sentenced to life imprisonment by an anti-drug court in a six-year-old case.

The Control of Narcotics Substances (CNS) court in Rawalpindi handed life imprisonment to PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi, who was convicted for misusing ephedrine chemical.

Abbasi, considered very close to Sharif, was contesting the elections against Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid from Rawalpindi.

The PML-N leader will not be able to contest the upcoming general elections following the narcotics court’s decision.

The court, which announced its decision after six years, acquitted seven other accused in the case while giving them the benefit of doubt.

The ephedrine case surfaced in March 2011 when the then federal minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin told the National Assembly that the government would investigate the alleged allocation of 9,000 kg of ephedrine to pharmaceutical companies.

The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) registered a case against nine suspects, including Abbasi, in June 2012.

Abbasi was charged with misusing 500 kg of the controlled chemical ephedrine which he obtained for his company, Gray Pharmaceutical, in 2010.

He allegedly sold it to smugglers instead of using it as medicine.

Those absolved of charges included the son of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Ali Musa Gilani and former health minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin.

Abbasi was arrested from the court and was expected to be taken to Adiala Jail where his leader Sharif is already jailed.

The conviction might further vitiate the atmosphere of elections which is already highly charged due to the imprisonment of Sharif and his daughter in a corruption case.

(PTI)