Bengaluru Police push for tougher Drugs and Cosmetics Act to combat recreational drug sales

Bengaluru: Bengaluru city police want the Ministerial Task Force (MTF), set up for combating drug menace in the state, to review the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and strengthen it by criminalising certain offences.

The Karnataka government had constituted a task force under Home Minister G Parameshwara recently. A well-placed source in the Bengaluru city police said that the initiative followed a high-level meeting that included various departments, including health and home. CM Siddaramaiah had said that the task force will mull over strengthening the narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

In the backdrop of this announcement, police have flagged that the Drugs and Cosmetics Act bars them from initiating any action against irregularities concerning tablets and other drugs. 

Section 22 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act empowers the inspectors at the Drugs Control Department to raid, seize, and initiate action in issues concerning drugs and cosmetics. 

According to a senior police officer, despite having credible information about medical stores selling drugs that are either banned or unauthorised, they are handcuffed, as they cannot initiate action directly. 

“We interrogate drug peddlers and are aware about drugs that are actively sold by the peddling networks. We also know the tablets that are used as recreational drugs by addicts,” the officer said.

“Despite being aware of stores that sell such drugs, we cannot initiate action against them on our own. We need to work jointly with the drug controller department, which is not always feasible,” he added.

Cut-off box - Raids on medical stores Documents related to raids on medical stores in the last eight months accessed by the DH indeed strengthened the officer’s claims.  The Central Crime Branch (CCB) officers tipped off the Drugs Controller Department six times and conducted joint raids on medical stores across the city. During the raids the team identified eleven drugs that are strictly banned or “sale on prescription” and were sold by these medical stores. However no FIR was filed according to the documents accessed by DH. A senior police officer part of the raids said that those medical stores were either shut down for 15-20 days and licenses were cancelled for a few months. He added that acts of selling such drugs should be criminalised as they directly affect law and order in the city. A well-placed officer told DH that the police were not convinced with the action initiated. Police believe that this will grow into a bigger issue in the coming days. Therefore Bengaluru police commissioner B Dayananda evinced interest and wrote to the health department flagging the issue.  Further the Home Department learnt about the issue and brought it to the notice of the Chief Minister prompting him to constitute a task force.