SUBSTANCE ABUSE IN INDIA: A CASE STUDY

INTRODUCTION

This post tends to deal with the question of substance abuse in India, how it is encroaching the minds of the people, what government is doing and what as a community we can do. This shall also involve the legal implications faced by the family and individual. 

                                             

Substance Abuse has its own definition it itself. World Health Organisation (WHO) says, that habitual use of or dependence on harmful substances like liquor/alcoholic drinks, tobacco, cigarette/bidis, drugs (other than for medical purposes) or illicit drug salts is called as Abuse. But is it really a big deal? Why isn't this still a full fledged political campaign? Europeans drink, so is there a problem with Indians drinking? How much of its use is not abuse or addiction? These are the questions that rises into minds of a common man when topics like these are put in front of them. The way a drunk man is shown in movies is actually scary but is drinking really bad? 

IS SOCIETY AFFECTED OR IS IT RESPONSIBLE?

As range of these substances are expanding this has made it easier for the people to come in contact with these substances. This continuous expansion has also deepened the reach of the cartels to reach masses. The modes of buying and selling have been changing and so as the substances. More young and young people are getting introduced to these substances. You would be surprised to know that despite young people are increasing their consumption yet the older ones are the ones who still consume the maximum amount of alcohol in India. 

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), average alcohol consumption in India was 5.7 litres per person above the age of 15 per year in 2016, up from 4.3 litres in 2010. On per capita consumption, India is ranked 101 (with Moldova leading with 15.2 litres. In the immediate neighbourhood, the figure for Pakistan is 0.3 litres and China is 7.2 litres). Moreover, about one third of Indians drink regularly, says the study. For country liquor states like Andhra Pradesh and Telengana have the highest consumption while states with sudden increase in consumption of imported wines include Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh. Goa and Mizoram also saw rise in the consumption scale in recent times. If we see overall the Union Territories of India, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana and Arunachal Pradesh have been grouped as highest consumers of alcohol in India. If this is so why is case of Punjab, Bihar and Gujarat so famous?? Aren't they supposed to be the highest consumers of alcohol?

Indians aren't just drinking more, but they are drinking dangerously as well. The answer is that few places in India like Maharashtra and Bihar have seen chronic alcoholism and never ending poverty. This has actually hassled the social balance in these places. Community actually started to shatter in these places and the basic feature of a society and community actually fell apart in many cases. This actually called on for huge rallies and revolts in many of these places which actually led the government of these states to roll out ban on alcohol. But things went out to become serious for state like Punjab since the abuse here was primarily of drugs (alcohol consumption still high) and youth comparatively were highly involved into the chain. The problem is even severe since this is not a city based lifestyle choice for them rather a habit which was borne and spread like anything in villages. Off course the highest consumption of drugs in India is still in Maharashtra but Punjab has played as a geographical advantage for the cartel and their people have now become directly, indirectly or accidentally the part of the consumption chain now. This is ruining the social structure in the state. The mean political standards of the state makes it even worse since Punjab being primarily an agricultural state (apart from few cities like ludhiana which is highly industrialized) has been struggling with the soil quality and irrigation. Secondly, lack of employment leaves youth as their will and choice. To add up Punjab is comparatively a rich state and likes to spend, this could be attributed to the western attraction of life (e.g. Canada influence) and income from estates. This has offered an all together a different scenario where a substance abuse is more like a hobby/status which turned out to become the biggest vampire for the state.   

WHAT HAS BEEN THE STAND OF GOVERNMENT?

The state of Nagaland, Kerela, Bihar and Gujarat are primarily the dry states in India which have complete prohibition of alcohol within their territorial boundaries. The state of Mizoram is the latest addition in the list when it passed a legislation The Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition) Act, 2019 replacing Mizoram (Prohibition and Control) Act, 2014. 

Gujarat is the first state in India to bring in prohibition in sale of alcohol in state with legislation dating from 1948. The situation was so grave in Gujarat that the state was bound by the circumstances and later it became a political narrative during the time. Gujarat being the only state that has the proviso of death penalty is both manufacturing and selling of country/homemade liquor that leads to fatalities. The legislation being The Bombay Prohibition (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2009. 

Before Mizoram the state which took the call was Bihar which declared itself a dry state in 2015 prohibiting sale of alcohol in entire state. Later the state amended the legislation making it Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016, which more stringent provisions involving 10 years of jail term which may further be increased to life imprisonment, if found indulging in unlawful import, export, transport, manufacture, sell and possession of intoxicant or liquor. 

Nagaland had prohibited alcohol completely in the state back in 1989 by the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act. 

Lakshadweep is the only UT which has banned alcohol in all the islands except Bangaram which is majorly an uninhabited area. 

THE DOUBLE SIDED SWORD OF ILLEGAL TRADE AND ADDICTION

The question is, despite having so many legislation why does India still has high number of deaths by drinking country wine? The answer is fairly simple. The legislation have done their work well for being in the records of the state and the authorities have clearly failed. Nagaland alone has been associated with numerous incidents of illegal trade of alcohol and other substances. The trade has not only kept the authorities blind eyed but in multiple cases has seen direct involvement of the authorities as well. In February 2021, the state witnessed highest number of smuggled alcohol entering the state meanwhile also producing its own version of alcohol which is termed as 'Indian Made Foreign Liquor'. This is further smuggled to states like Assam which recently has seen huge upsurge in consumption of 'foreign liquor'.  More than 1,500 people were arrested which included many influential people from the state. The authorities have seized more than 32,000 bottles of liquor including 480 kg of ganja, 3.5 kg brown sugar, 2,159 bottles of cough syrup, 6,125 capsules of other drugs.  The NLTP Act in the state which prohibits manufacture, sale, possession and consumption is again in public debate whether it should be given more teeth or should be relaxed. 

INTERNATIONAL SMUGGLING: A BONE OF CONTENTION IN MULTILATERALISM 

Golden Crescent and Golden Triangle are the world's two largest illicit opium production located in crossroads of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan (Golden Crescent) and Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand (Golden Triangle) which has resulted in huge illicit trade in and through India. This has been the primary reason for the up-rise in the consumption of substances in India to an extent of abuse and deadly addiction. The poor people of these countries have been associated with the trade and its always these people who are often caught and held by the Border Security Forces. This corridor has further acted as an entry point to India where Punjab and Rajasthan falls in the ambit of the Golden Crescent while Nagaland and other North-Eastern States fall within the ambit of the Golden Triangle. These corridors have also been used for multiple terror attacks, illicit weapon buyout, naxalism, war-funding, flesh trade, opium trade, counterfeiting, modern day slavery, etc. Another interesting fact is that a huge rise in HIV is being witness in areas within and around the ambit of both the Red-Zone areas. This has definitely remained a point of worry for India as a nation on both sovereignty and security of the country.    

                                       

            

WHAT DOES INDIAN COURTS SAY?

As soon as the State of Bihar passed the legislation on prohibition of alcohol completely soon the Courts were filled with cases and Public Interest Litigation. One of them was in Hon'ble Patna High Court. The 30th September, 2016 the Hon'ble Court held that the ban was "illegal, impractical and unconstitutional". On 3rd October, 2016 the State of Bihar approached the Hon'ble Supreme Court challenging the order of High Court. The Supreme Court bench headed by the then Chief Justice of India T. S. Thakur agreed to give an urgent hearing on the matter and on 7th October, 2016 much to the relief of the government the Hon'ble Supreme Court stayed the High Court order stating that "Ban on liquor and fundamental rights do not go together".  

A very similar issue was raised in Behram Khurshed Pesikaka v. The State of Bombay, 1954 where the contention was raised to Section 13(b) of the Act which made consumption of prohibited liquor viz. spirits of wine, methylated spirits, wine, beer, toddy and all non-medicinal and non-toilet liquid preparations consisting of or containing alcohol. The Hon'ble Court raised the question of 'validly prohibited liquor' as provided under Section 13(b) and Penal Section 66(b). 

In Bhugdomal Gangaram And Ors. v. State of Gujarat, 1983 the State filed Criminal Appeal against the acquittal of accused on the grounds that the accused were involved in manufacture and sale of the prohibited liquor. The grounds of appeal were Section 2(41)(a), 65(e), 65(1)(b), and 81. Section 65(e) lays down that whoever in contravention of the provisions of the Act, or of any rule, regulation or order made or of any licence, pass, permit or authorization granted under the Act sells or buys any intoxicant (other than opium) or hemp shall on conviction be punished for such offence with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and also with fine. According to Section 2(41)(a) 'sell' with its grammatical variations includes any transfer whether such transfer is for any consideration or not. Section 66(1)(b) says down that whoever in contravention of the provisions of the Act or of any rule, regulation or order made or of any licence, permit, pass or authorization issued under the Act, consumes, uses, possesses or transports any intoxicant (other than opium) or hemp shall, on conviction, be punished for a first offence with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months and with a fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, for a second offence with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years and with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees and for a third or subsequent offences with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years and with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees. Section 81 lays down that whoever attempts to commit or abets the commission of an offence under the Act shall, on conviction, be punished for such attempt or abetment with the same punishment as is provided for the principal offence. There was no dispute in this Court that the 40 drums seized from the truck contained prohibited liquor. The Hon'ble Court observed that there was evidence of transport without permit or license but there lacked the evidence of accused trying to sell the prohibited liquor. 

CONCLUSION: I REST MY CASE

Few States did show phenomenal change in socio-economic indexes like Bihar where the succeeding year brought with it jump of social indicators. Within an year, the number of robberies and murders fell by 20%. The number of accidents fell by 10% and the number of riots also fell by 13%. While for Bihar this came as a good news, for states like Nagaland it came out more horrific which increase in number of smuggled liquor with many a times even compromising the sovereignty and security of the country. This has also acted as a source of funding for separatist groups like NSEAN which operate largely in cross-borders of India and Myanmar.

The prime reason for sudden increase in the consumption among people in cities is the 'easy access' that the modern age has offered to them. It has diluted the barrier of restrain to the young ones. The adolescent age is the period when there lies a higher chances of them being introduced to these substances. These could be in school or college as well. At homes, a lot depends on parents as well. I know that this present world is very harsh on parenting and parents have to deal with extra-societal pressure but the one thing that is mostly seen is the intra-parental relations or in easy words, how is the relation between the father and the mother. Is it cordial enough to have children their space? Also to note that there lies higher chances of children or young ones getting into this habit who do not have a full time look after at their homes. This shows that although as a society we have grown but somewhere we have lacked. This needs to be solved and this can be easily done if parents save some time from their busy schedule to spend with their loved young ones. This answers many of the queries and kills most of the curiosity for these substances at the very initial.  Now smoking is another addiction. Till date smoking remains the number one killer in the world on annual basis. Smoking does two-fold damage, the first being the smoke itself and second the most dangerous is the substance that produces smoke. Mostly it is tobacco but in many unfortunate cases it is other substances, a lot of time illicit too. These substances range from mild drugs to higher and complex ones. 

The India is the largest consumer of alcohol is the world owing to its population although per capita consumption is still among the lowest. But the point of worry is that this figure will continue to increase and increase at the social cost of community balance disturbing,  further raising poverty. 

So the question still remains, is drinking bad?

Those against prohibition say it has only helped spurious liquor find its way into the state through the black market which consequently affects the health of the people who drink alcohol. They also argue that scrapping prohibition would ensure better quality of liquor at cheaper prices and also increase the government’s revenue.