In order to deal with the issue of illicit trafficking and abuse of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances in the State, the Government has decided to go for preventive detention as an effective measure to arrest its proliferation.
With the rise in cultivation of cannabis (ganja) and opium poppy in the State, the State Government has decided to aggressively use the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PITNDPS) Act, 1988.
Official sources revealed that both the Department of Home and the Department of Excise would take up the matter with all seriousness.
While Directorate of Excise and the Crime Branch police are making serious efforts to curb the cultivation of cannabis, detention under the PITNDPS Act is hardly used, officials admit.
Section-3 of the PITNDPS Act provides for preventive detention of traffickers by both Central and State Governments as it is an effective measure in dealing with the drug menace feel officials.
As the State Governments, including Odisha, are found not using the PITNDPS Act, the Union Government, monitoring the activities, is of the opinion that this provision of the Act is needs to be utilised to curb the drug menace more effectively.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has also drawn the attention of the State Governments in this regard and issued guidelines as to against whom the PITNDPS Act can be utilised.
Organisers, financiers and their agents, who manage things from behind the scene can be detained under the Act. The State Government would have to notify a Detaining Authority under the ACT and sensitise police and drug law enforcement agencies on the provisions of the Act.
While the State Government is seriously pursuing destruction of cannabis and making efforts to contain the growing menace, this step would help the Government agencies curb the menace in a significant way, feel officials.
All district Collectors and Superintendents of Police are being supported by the Department of Excise in this regard. However, as the preventive detention part seems lacking and that has to be taken up in all seriousness, Union Home Affairs Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi has also written to the State Governments in this regard recently.
Mehrishi has urged the State Governments to utilise the PITNDPS Act for prevention of the crime at regular intervals and curb the growing menace of drug abuse.