Cracking Down

Maharashtra’s move to bring drug-related crimes under the ambit of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) is as bold as it is overdue. The amendment that redefines “organised crime” to include activities related to the production, possession and trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances will significantly raise the stakes for drug peddlers, making bail harder to obtain and expanding the state’s powers to prosecute offenders under one of the country’s toughest laws against syndicates.

This is a rare case of legislative foresight matching the scale of a crisis. India’s urban centres are in the throes of a full-blown narcotics crisis. In cities like Mumbai and Pune particularly, drug peddling has ceased to be an underworld whisper and is now a multi-layered racket fed by foreign cartels, enabled by local mules and dangerously adept at manipulating legal grey zones. In Mumbai alone, drug-related arrests have spiked nearly 60 percent over the past five years, with seizures of synthetic drugs such as MDMA, LSD, and ketamine routinely making headlines. Pune, with its vast student population, has emerged as a hub for party drugs, often traded through encrypted social media platforms.

The existing legal arsenal, particularly the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act of 1985, has failed to keep pace with the organised, transnational nature of modern-day drug trafficking. While the NDPS Act remains the central legal instrument, its provisions are frequently undermined by procedural loopholes. Many traffickers exploit these gaps to operate with impunity. The inclusion of narcotics offences within the MCOCA framework remedies this.

The law, enacted in 1999 to target mafia syndicates, grants police wider powers to intercept communication, detain suspects for longer periods, and extract admissible confessions. Chargesheets under MCOCA can be filed within 180 days, double the period provided under the new Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). More importantly, habitual offenders, those often arrested but seldom convicted, can now be dealt with far more stringently.

The state government, led by Devendra Fadnavis, deserves credit for confronting the issue with political clarity. Fadnavis’s decision to lower the age threshold for juveniles involved in drug peddling from 18 to 16 years is particularly applause-worthy. Syndicates have been increasingly recruiting minors, knowing full well that juvenile laws offer them leniency.

Equally notable is the Chief Minister’s call to the Centre to fast-track the deportation of foreign nationals involved in the state’s drug trade. For too long, urban India has treated its drug problem as a social inconvenience rather than a national security concern. The social cost is dire - fractured families, addicted youth, overwhelmed rehabilitation centres and increasingly, violence.

Maharashtra’s amendment to MCOCA signals a shift from reactive policing to proactive disruption. It recognises that drug peddling is not merely a street-level crime, but part of a well-oiled supply chain that requires intelligence-led policing, international cooperation and tough laws with teeth. If implemented wisely, it may well become a model for other states grappling with the scourge of synthetic and psychotropic drugs.