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Govt planning to amend NDPS Act: Arora
Rajya Sabha MP Sanjiv Arora said as per the reply, the government was considering decriminalising possession of drugs up to some reasonably small levels to segregate drug addicts from traffickers
: Union minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai gave a detailed reply to a question asked by Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Sanjiv Arora on Tuesday regarding segregation of drug addicts and traffickers.
Arora said as per the reply, the government was considering decriminalising possession of drugs up to some reasonably small levels to segregate drug addicts from traffickers.
He had also asked about the number of persons, in judicial custody or convits, sent to prisons for their involvement in criminal cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act during the past five years.
The Rajya Sabha MP also asked the ministry about the number of persons involved in possessing drugs with quantities less than commercial or intermediate levels, as categorised under the Act. He also questioned the ministry if the government had commissioned any study to assess the impact of such imprisonment on turning ordinary drug addicts into hardened criminals.
Regarding Arora’s question about any study to assess the impact of such imprisonment on turning ordinary drug addicts into hardened criminals, the minister replied that, no such study had been commissioned.
Arora said Rai had also stated that the Centre had no proposal for decriminalising possession of drugs up to some small levels. However, the matter is under deliberation in the department of revenue, ministry of finance, the nodal ministry administering the NDPS Act.
