NDPS ACT:  A CRITICAL LEGAL ANALYSIS OF INDIA’S DRUG CONTROL FRAMEWORK

AUTHOR – RIDHI N, STUDENT AT SCHOOL OF LAW, CHRIST (DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITY)

BEST CITATION – RIDHI N, NDPS ACT:  A CRITICAL LEGAL ANALYSIS OF INDIA’S DRUG CONTROL FRAMEWORK, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (3) OF 2026, PG. 302-309, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

ABSTRACT:

Indian law to stop drug trafficking and control using drugs in Indian is the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 or “NDPS Act”. This Act which was made as a result of India honouring its commitments under the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is a crime and ban on use of drugs. While the main goal of the NDPS Act is to stop illegal trafficking and protect the health of the general public, the law has been criticized many times due to its strict rules, inflexibility and lack of attention to harm reduction and rehabilitation.

The main question in this research is whether the country’s existing drug control measure, the NDPS Act, is a just and right way to strike an adequate balance between the interest of the State to control the drug and the liberty of the individual. The following are the specific objectives of this enterprise: (1) to trace the development of the NDPS Act over the years and examine its scope and framework; (2) to subject to critique the functioning of the said Act from the point of view of the legislative provisions, judicial interpretation and execution by law enforcing agencies; and (3) to determine greatly effective the NDPS Act as dissimilar to the international drug control mechanisms and to recommend different ways in which the NDPS Act could be corrected. In order to perform the aforesaid objectives of the research, an elaborate appreciation of primary data (statutes, case law and government reports) and secondary literature (academic writing, policy papers and comparative legal studies) has been made. The process adopted is doctrinal in nature.

Even though the NDPS Act established a robust legal framework that criminalized and punished drug related offences. The excessive importance placed on punishments meant that the implementing law caused many other more serious harms. For example, overcrowding prisons, violations of due process and the stigmatising practices which Durbanize drug users. A major correction to this legislation must include classifying traffickers and users within the law. The use of methodologies that focus on human health such as decriminalizing private use. and robust safeguards within the system to prevent police excesses are essential in the law of tomorrow. India thus has to move from absolute punitiveness towards equilibrium punitiveness which would inline the ideal benchmark International best practice and the rights guaranteed by its constitution.

KEYWORDS: NDPS Act, 1985, Drug Control Policy, Judicial Interpretation, Rehabilitation and Public Health, Comparative Drug Policy