India accounts for 30 per cent of total narcotics consumption in Asia but not all of this falls in the hard drugs category. As per the ‘Magnitude of Substance Use of India, 2019’ report of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, alcohol tops in usage amongst listed “substances” in India followed by soft drugs like cannabis (also used in bhang as well as in ganja and charas), which was legal for use in India till 1985. About 2.1 per cent of India’s population uses opioids (poppy husk known as doda/phukki), Heroin (in its impure form called smack or brown sugar) and a variety of pharmaceutical opioids.

Drug use problem is most prevalent in North-Eastern states as well as in big population states like UP, Maharashtra, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.

A response to the narcotics problem in India, therefore, requires an approach based on ground reality. Alcohol, though not recommended, is not banned in India. Similarly, recreational drugs like marijuana or cannabis (again not endorsed) have been consumed for centuries as per records of ancient India of 2000 BC and were first mentioned in the Atharvaveda, and do not have the same adverse impact on the human body as opium-based drugs do. For example, the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission appointed in 1893 on cannabis usage in India found that "moderate" use of hemp drugs was not considered socially deviant across all strata of society and its ingesting by doctors, coolies, fakirs, palace operators, army officials, tax collectors, clergy was "practically attended by no evil results at all", "produced no injurious effects on the mind" and "no moral injury whatever".

Laws governing drug usage in modern times must also take into cognizance consumption patterns, substance types and the colossal illegal money mafia behind the deadliest variety and then go after those who are really in the dirty business. Unfortunately, our current law Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1985 brought in during the regime of late Rajiv Gandhi, under pressure from the Ronald Reagan government, is totally draconian and outdated and due for an overhaul. Interestingly, there is a prevalent view that the fight against contraband and anti-drug campaigns like ‘Just Say No’ in the USA were funded by industrialists who wanted to rake moolah in alcohol.