Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Friday (June 26, 2026) that the Department of Revenue will be amending the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and asked States to submit suggestions to address existing loopholes.
The NDPS Act and Rules will be updated to address emerging challenges and address regulatory gaps while promoting a more reformative approach towards persons consuming drugs or suffering from addiction, according to the ‘Vision Document on Drug Control (2026-2029)’ released by Mr. Shah. He said that the entire road map has been prepared on the foundation of “detect, disrupt and destroy” and urged the State governments to target drug traffickers and gangsters who hide abroad through Red Corner Notices with the help of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
He addressed the 10th apex-level meeting of the Narco-Coordination Centre (NCORD) organised by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
He said that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) was working towards establishing exclusive NDPS courts to ensure speedy convictions in major cases and that State police chiefs should ensure mandatory financial investigation in such cases.
The entire process of identifying proceeds of crime, freezing them, seizing them, and ensuring they do not return to the accused will have to be made evidence-based and equipped with modern technology, the Minister said.
Releasing the vision document, he said that the next three years will decide “whether addiction will defeat us or we will defeat addiction”.
The document provides a time-bound national strategy to substantially dismantle the narcotics-drug ecosystem through coordinated action against trafficking, abuse, illicit finance and organised criminal networks.
More than 40 Ministries, Central agencies, State governments, district administrations, educational institutions, civil society organisations and citizens will work together under a common national framework against drugs.
Enforcement efforts will shift from targeting individual carriers to identifying, investigating and dismantling complete drug trafficking networks, including suppliers, financiers, handlers, facilitators and organised criminal syndicates, the document stated.
A 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 in major drug cases, attachment of illicit assets and enhanced use of the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (PITNDPS) will target drug kingpins and dismantle the financial foundations of trafficking networks, it said.
It also called for advanced surveillance systems, anti-drone technologies, AI-enabled profiling, container scanning and enhanced inter-agency coordination to strengthen interdiction capabilities across land, sea and air trafficking routes.
Special focus will be placed on methamphetamine, mephedrone and emerging synthetic drugs through strengthened precursor controls, intelligence-led operations and disruption of clandestine manufacturing and trafficking networks.
Chemical and pharmaceutical industries will be encouraged to adopt voluntary compliance measures, report suspicious transactions and actively assist authorities in preventing diversion of prescription medicines for abuse as psychotropic substances, it added.
