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Windfall for licensed opium addicts
From Raman Mohan

HISAR, May 5 — Licence holding opium addicts in Haryana are in for a bonanza. In an incredulous move, the state government is supplying them opium with retrospective effect from June 1998 to date ignoring the fact that medically an addict who has survived for two years without opium is by now certainly rid of his addiction.

The government stopped supplying opium to the “licensed addicts” in June 1998 when it stopped receiving supplies from opium factories despite the requests forwarded through the state Excise Department. Records available with The Tribune reveal that opium was supplied last to the addicts on June 21, 1998 after which supplies stopped.

However, the supplies have now been resumed with retrospective effect. The Hisar district’s quota of 3 kg for 1999 was received yesterday and supplies to addicts will begin in a day or two, it is learnt.

Inquiries also reveal that the quota for the current year is also expected within the next few days. The addicts will thus receive double their normal quota in the next few months.

That is not all. Documents available with The Tribune also show that even after the state stopped receiving opium supplies, the authorities not only continued to renew the licences religiously, but also issued new ones against the law and in many cases increased the quantity supplied to an addict from 5 gm to up to 25 gm which is patently illegal. So, the addicts who are in medical terms no longer addicts, their licences notwithstanding, can enjoy their stupor with the windfall.

On the other hand, the addicts have been wiser than the government. After supplies stopped, many of them did not get their licences renewed. According to the Chief Surgeon, Dr S.K. Dogra, the number of addicts has fallen from 73 in 1998 to 48 at present. This has come as blessing in disguise for the fellow addicts who had their licences renewed during 1998-2000. They can look forward to have enhanced quotas since the supplies have not been reduced proportionately.

According to sources the supplies were stopped as the Central Bureau of Narcotics alarmed by the failure of the state government to stop issuing licences, sought detailed information regarding the number of addicts and procedures adopted for issuing licences. However, just as the governments were reconciling to stoppage of supplies, these were inexplicably restored this week.

Interestingly, nearly all opium licences in existence are illegal as these were issued after 1979 when the Central Bureau of Narcotics banned fresh licences vide letter no. 16/1/Tech/78 sent on October 12, 1979. On June 6, 1983, the bureau once again sent a communication to the state Excise and Texation Commissioners (no 16(1)2 Tech/80-6795). It said that the question of issuing permits to new addicts had been examined in the context of India’s obligations under the international treaties relating to narcotics and it had been decided that such permits were not permissible under the law.

It also pointed out that opium could not be supplied for maintaining an addiction but only for treatment of addicts for deaddiction “in small quantities”. The “small quantity was fixed at 5 gm through a gazette notification by the Centre on November 14, 1985 under Section 27 of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPSA), 1985.

However, in clear violation of the law the authorities have time and again increased the quantity up to 50 gm in many cases. The gravity of the violation of the law can be imagined from the fact that Section 64A of the NDPS Act says that anyone possessing “small quantity” (meaning 5 gm)opium for personal consumption can escape imprisonment once in his or her lifetime if the addict volunteers to go undergo treatment for deaddiction at a government specified hospital. It adds that if the treatment is not completed, the immunity is withdrawn.

The history of opium supplies dates back to the early sixties when it was decided to issue permits to opium addicts on medical grounds. It was then planned to reduce the consumption by an addict gradually and deaddict him. The Centre then fixed Hisar district’s quota at 8 kg. The district then included the present districts of Bhiwani, Sirsa and Fatehabad also. Official sources failed to explain why the last year’s quota was being issued now. Later, one of them said the addicts could have been living on illicit opium. However, they said they had no plans to medically examine the permit holders to determine if they were still addicted to opium.