Cure and not decriminalize drug users

Context

This article highlights the need for advancing health care services for drug users rather than criminalizing them.

Cannabis and its usage in India

Cannabis is a generic term used to denote the several psychoactive preparations of the plant Cannabis sativa. The main active chemical in cannabis is THC (delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol).
The Mexican term ‘marijuana’ is frequently used in referring to cannabis leaves or other crude plant material in many countries.
Cannabis is by far the most widely cultivated, trafficked and abused illicit drug.
Uttarakhand became the first State in the country to legalize cannabis cultivation in 2017.
Other States such as Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have legalized cultivation and harvest of cannabis for medicinal purposes.
Himachal Pradesh is considering legalizing the cultivation of cannabis.

Health effects of cannabis use

Cannabis impairs cognitive development (capabilities of learning) including associative processes.
Cannabis impairs psychomotor performance in a wide variety of tasks, such as motor coordination, divided attention, and operative tasks of many types.
Heavy cannabis consumption is associated with a higher prevalence of symptoms of chronic bronchitis

Therapeutic uses of cannabinoids

Therapeutic effects of cannabinoids includes its usage for nausea and vomiting in the advanced stages of illnesses such as cancer and AIDS
Treatment of asthma,glaucoma and as an antidepressant, appetite stimulant etc
Oil extracted from cannabis is known to be useful in strengthening nerves and treating people suffering from paralysis.

NDPS Act and criminalisation of drug users

The production, manufacturing, possession, consumption, sale, purchase, transport and use of cannabis is prohibited and criminalized by the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act 1985.
The 2001 amendment to the law differentiates between those who possess a “small quantity” of the drug (drug users) and those found storing it in “commercial quantities”. (drug traffickers).
However, possession of the drug (for personal consumption) or consuming it for recreational purposes remains an offense under the Act.
Criminalisation was intended to deter the use of drugs. However, drug dependence has increased over the years across the world.
In India, 3.1 crore people are reported to have used a cannabis product in the last 12 months and about 72 lakh people required help to address their cannabis dependency-related problems.

Adverse effects of criminalisation

Criminalisation means long pretrial imprisonment and stigmatization of users.
Majority of the undertrial prisoners under the NDPS Act who end up in jail often belong to the socially and economically vulnerable class
Putting drug users behind bars makes their rehabilitation difficult and exposes them to the risk of becoming traffickers.
They lack access to de-addiction centers.

The over-criminalisation of drug users undermines their social well-being.
It also overburdens the criminal justice machinery and adds to the workload of the overworked investigating agencies.
It results in wastage of Public resources which would otherwise have been deployed to set up a robust rehabilitation network.

Measures to decriminalize drug users

In 2021, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment recommended the decriminalization of the possession of small quantities of drugs for personal consumption to treat drug consumers as victims rather than culprits.
The Ministry also suggested mandatory de-addiction and rehab facility for 30 days followed by mandatory community service for one year for drug addicts.
However, in Parliament last year, the government reversed its opinion on decriminalizing personal consumption of drugs.

Way forward

- - Law enforcement agencies view drug users as offenders, whereas the public health systems focus on their well-being. However in India the rehabilitation of drug users is systematically replaced by the denial of bail and enforcement of jail terms and penalties.
  - It’s high time for India to take lessons from countries such as Portugal and Canada that have demonstrated the efficacy of the public health approach.

- In India, Sikkim has tried to tackle the drug problem by differentiating between peddlers and consumers.
- It has tried to advance healthcare services to the most vulnerable drug users.
- The state’s model of decriminalization can be replicated at the national level.

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