A report of the Home Department giving figures of narcotic trafficking in the State during five years (2009 – 2013) gives shocking picture of drug proliferation among the youth. The quantity of narcotic drugs seized during the period is computed at 968 qtls plus 7 lakh intoxicants. The narcotics include almost all known varieties like heroine, brown sugar, opium and charas. Yearly graph of seizures shows that these have been on gradual increase. We do not have the figures of narcotic drugs that have escaped the searching eye of the police. The ever increasing quantities of these drugs show that the demand is not dwindling but increasing, and the youth of the State are the users of drugs. Drug addiction is proliferating among the youth and this is becoming a big problem for the state. The boys and girls of higher strata of society are reportedly becoming easy victims of drug peddlers because they have money and can afford it easily. But with improvement of economic position of the people, now even the youth coming from middle class are also getting addicted to drugs. Curiously, conviction of drug peddlers is far less that those arrested. During the period between 2009 to 2013, a total of 93 drug-smugglers/peddlers were convicted under the NDPSA but during this period the number of acquittals was 840 and this situation not only puts State Police in the dock but also raises eye-brows about those who conducted investigation into the cases which culminated in acquittals. A total of 121 drug smugglers/peddlers were acquitted in 2009 while as the number of acquittals was 88 in 2010. In 2011, a total of 125 smugglers were acquitted while as 237 persons were acquitted by the courts because of faulty investigations in 2012.
Drug trafficking has become a nuisance and since it involved enormous monies, narcotic traffickers become millionaire overnight and thus disrupt the equilibrium of society’s economic balance. The Government cannot continue closing its eyes to the gravity of situation. Police Department has to reform drug related rules to take them more effective.
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