Amit Shah Launches Three-Year National Roadmap to Combat Narcotics

Union Home Minister Amit Shah unveiled the Vision Document on Narcotics Control (2026-2029) during the 10th apex-level meeting of the Narco-Coordination Centre (NCORD) in New Delhi on June 26. The three-year roadmap aims to make India drug-free by 2047 by shifting enforcement from arresting individual couriers to dismantling 100 major interstate and transnational cartels through a detect, disrupt, and destroy strategy. The plan focuses on four pillars: enforcement and intelligence, synthetic drug control, demand reduction and rehabilitation, and capacity building.

To strengthen the legal framework, the government is amending the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act to close loopholes used by syndicates. Shah urged state governments to submit suggestions for these amendments and called for the use of Red Corner Notices to repatriate traffickers. He highlighted a significant increase in synthetic drug seizures, noting that 11.8 million kilograms were seized between 2014 and 2026, compared to 2.6 million kilograms from 2004 to 2014.

Complementing these policies, the government launched a drug disposal fortnight campaign to destroy approximately 209,500 kg of narcotics valued at 6,000 crore rupees. The Narcotics Control Bureau also expanded its operational reach by inaugurating new zonal offices in Jammu and Guwahati. In Gujarat, officials reported that state police prevented narcotics worth over 13,600 crore rupees from entering the region over the last five years using AI-based analytical platforms.