Race towards a Drug Free Nation

Race towards a Drug Free Nation

Mangalore Today News Network

By Dr. G. Shreekumar Menon

Mangaluru, March 6, 2026: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday (January 9, 2026) announced a crackdown on narcotics from March 31 with a three-year nationwide campaign to weed out the drug menace from the country. He announced that a collective nationwide campaign against drugs will be launched from 31st March 2026. The campaign, which will run for three years, aims to make the country drug-free. Mr Shah made the announcement while chairing the 9th Apex-Level Meeting of the Narco-Coordination Centre (NCORD) in New Delhi. He said, in the fight against drugs, all departments of the Central Government should prepare a roadmap up to 2029 and establish a time-bound review mechanism for its implementation. 

To achieve the goal of a drug-free India, Mr Shah stressed the need to adopt a collective and ruthless approach towards dismantling the drug supply chain, along with a strategic approach towards demand reduction. He added that the Government’s stance is very clear and that there should be no compassion for those who manufacture or sell drugs.

But, drug trafficking is one of the world’s most lucrative illicit activities, worth something in the range of $500 billion per year. It is also a major source of health-related issues and associated public health care costs; violence and civil conflict; political and economic upheaval. Coverage of this issue is very often focused on the so-called kingpins — the main players at the head of international criminal enterprises — and their immediate underlings. However, there are so many more layers, people, and issues connected to the trade.

A drug trafficking setup is a complex, illegal network that moves illicit drugs from production to distribution. The structure varies widely in scale, from small, street-level operations to sophisticated international organizations known as cartels. These networks are characterized by secrecy, violence, and corruption and are a major global crime threat. 

To begin with, most large criminal enterprises operate a massive distribution chain. This chain is similar to any other global commodity network: there are source areas, distribution channels, concentration hubs, processing stations, dispatch points, consumer distribution channels, etc. Each of these might be part of the same organization or run by third-party contractors. In some cases, the third-party contractors make so much money, that, they form their own powerful criminal organizations.

Data on drug trafficking, especially drug seizures, gives only a small part of the picture. Also, none of these large organizations operate without a top cover. This top cover comes from politicians, law enforcement officials, prosecutors, regulators, and others that can protect the business interests of the criminal organization. In return for this clandestine protection, they receive bribe money and other forms of capital. A politician, for example, can expect support for his election campaign, which could include both direct payments and a promise of economic investment where his constituents and allies are. Bankers and economic elites also quietly open their doors to drug traffickers who bring all forms of investment opportunities, as well as cash. And with time, drug traffickers become part of the ruling class leading to a wholesale reconfiguration of the elites.

There are also ancillary effects of drug trafficking worth covering: spikes in drug consumption that lead to addiction problems and skyrocketing health care costs; violence related to control of drug trafficking corridors or sales points; civil conflicts funded by drug trafficking activities; legalization and/or decriminalization of drugs; Covering drug trafficking is inherently difficult and can be dangerous. Information is also scant, and data is often suspect. In addition, public policy around drug trafficking is highly contentious, since punitive approaches to dealing with drug trafficking are often central pillars to most governments, and the collateral damage of these punitive policies is frequently widespread.

However, in all cases, government should proceed with caution: data on drug trafficking, especially drug seizures, gives only a small part of the picture and can even distort reality in some cases. For example, a government that is more vigilant may be seizing more drugs, but that does not necessarily translate into more drugs passing through its borders. In contrast, a government that is passive or corrupted may be seizing few drugs, but still could be a hub of trafficking activity.

Law enforcement and intelligence sources push their own preferred narrative about the drug trade and the effectiveness of their efforts to counter it. Narcotic drugs control is a continuum of events focused on interrupting illegal drugs smuggled by air, sea, or land. Normally it consists of several phases – intelligence, monitoring, detection, interception, seizure, and endgame, some which can occur simultaneously also. Law enforcement is society’s formal attempt to obtain compliance to the established rules, regulations, and laws of the same society. It is a vital attempt to prevent social disorder and chaos. This enforcement is legally authorised by the concept of legal powers, which is a government’s lawful authority to enact regulations and laws related to health, safety, welfare and morals. But, the global illegal drug trade is massive in scope with sweeping consequences for the developed and developing world by generating mind boggling revenue for entrenched organized criminal groups which undermines cornerstone institutions, corrupts law enforcement, infiltrates the financial sector, and further complicates issues of national security. This global trade involves drug producing countries, drug transit countries, and drug consuming countries. But, these are not water-tight compartments, they keep intermingling, hence many embarrassed nations keep pretending and claiming that they are only drug transit countries.

For any successful anti-drugs campaign to be successful, the first dragon to be slayed should be the local political actors’ engagement in the drug trade. The Home Minister then cited Prime Minister Modi’s resolve to make the nation free from addiction by 2047 when India will celebrate "Azadi Ka Shatabdi Samaroh". This mammoth task involves slaying another dragon – the inordinately slow judiciary and the mountainous court backlog of cases. Both are complex and lengthy battles. In the process of slaying these two dragons, it should not become, as Victor Mitchell, former Legislator from Colorado, says “The war on drugs has made government more powerful, citizens less free, and hasn’t helped users or addicts”.

---

Dr. G. Shreekumar Menon, IRS (Rtd), Ph.D. (Narcotics)

Former Director General of National Academy of Customs Indirect Taxes and Narcotics & Multi-Disciplinary School Of Economic Intelligence India; Fellow, James Martin Centre For Non Proliferation Studies, USA; Fellow, Centre for International Trade & Security, University of Georgia, USA; Public Administration, Maxwell School of Public Administration, Syracuse University, U.S.A.; AOTS Scholar, Japan. He can be contacted at shreemenon48@gmail.com