Home Minister Amit Shah says next three years will be crucial in fight against drugs, releases vision paper
Union Home Minister Amit Shah addresses the 10th Supreme Level Meeting of the Coordination Center for Narco-Coordination (NCORD) at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on June 26, 2026. Photo credit: ANI
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday (June 26, 2026) said the revenue ministry will amend the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and asked states to come up with proposals to address the existing loopholes.
The NDPS Act and Rules will be updated to address emerging issues and address gaps in regulation while promoting a more reformative approach to drug users or drug addicts, according to the ‘Drug Control Vision Document (2026-2029)’ released by Mr Shah. He said the entire plan was prepared on the basis of “uncover, disrupt and destroy” and urged the state governments to target drug peddlers and gangsters hiding abroad through Red Corner notifications with the help of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
He was speaking at the 10th Summit of the Narcotics Coordination Center (NCORD) organized by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
He said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) was working to set up exclusive NDPS courts to ensure speedy conviction in major cases and that state police chiefs should ensure mandatory financial investigations in such cases.
The entire process of identifying the proceeds of crime, freezing them, securing them and ensuring that they do not return to the accused will have to be evidence-based and equipped with modern technology, the minister said.
In releasing the vision document, he said the next three years would decide “whether addiction defeats us or we defeat addiction”.
The document provides a time-bound national strategy to substantially destroy the narcotics and drug ecosystem through coordinated action against human trafficking, abuse, illicit financing and organized crime networks.
More than 40 ministries, central agencies, state governments, district administrations, educational institutions, civil society organizations and citizens will work together under a common national anti-drug framework.
Law enforcement efforts will shift from targeting individual carriers to identifying, investigating and dismantling entire drug trafficking networks, including suppliers, financiers, handlers, middlemen and organized crime syndicates, the document says.
The mission mode campaign will identify and dismantle 100 major interstate and transnational drug cartels through intelligence-led investigations, coordinated operations, financial disruption and effective prosecution.
Mandatory financial investigations into major drug cases, confiscation of illicit assets and increased use of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Prevention Act (PITNDPS) will target drug kingpins and dismantle the financial foundations of drug trafficking networks, it said.
It also calls for advanced surveillance systems, anti-drone technology, artificial intelligence profiling, container scanning and improved interagency coordination to strengthen interdiction capabilities along land, sea and air routes.
Special attention will be paid to methamphetamine, mephedrone and emerging synthetic drugs through enhanced precursor controls, intelligence-led operations and disruption of clandestine manufacturing and smuggling networks.
The chemical and pharmaceutical industry will be encouraged to take voluntary compliance measures, report suspicious transactions and actively assist authorities in preventing the misuse of prescription drugs for abuse as psychotropic substances.
Published – 26 Jun 2026 16:15 IST