NATIONAL FUND TO CONTROL DRUG ABUSE (NFCDA)    

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Context

• The Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has recently recommended that the National Fund to Control Drug Abuse be used to carry out de-addiction programmes, rather than just policing activities.

About

• The fund was created in 1989 in accordance with a provision of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.
• The broad parameters of funding, scope, procedure, evaluation and monitoring mechanism for managing the funds of NFCDA have been prescribed in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (National Fund for Control of Drug Abuse) Rules, 2006.
• The fund is managed by Department of revenue, Ministry of Finance.

NDPS Act

• The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, commonly referred to as the NDPS Act, is an Act of the Parliament of India that prohibits a person the production/manufacturing/cultivation, possession, sale, purchasing, transport, storage, and/or consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance.
• It came into force on 14 November 1985. The NDPS Act has since been amended thrice — in 1988, 2001 and 2014. The Act extends to the whole of India and it applies also to all Indian citizens outside India and to all persons on ships and aircraft registered in India.
• The Narcotics Control Bureau was set up under the act with effect from March 1986.
• The Act is designed to fulfill India's treaty obligations under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.

Key Pointers

• India had no legislation regarding narcotics until 1985.
• Cannabis smoking in India has been known since at least 2000 BC[1] and is first mentioned in the Atharvaveda.
• Cannabis and its derivatives (marijuana, hashish/charas and bhang) were legally sold in India until 1985, and their recreational use was commonplace.
• The United States began to campaign for a worldwide law against all drugs, following the adoption of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs in 1961. However, India opposed the move.
• American pressure increased in the 1980s, and in 1985, the Rajiv Gandhi government enacted the NDPS Act, banning all narcotic drugs in India.

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