Know The Law

NDPS Punishment

Published On: Feb 27, 2024

Mentioned below are some drugs which are considered as narcotics drugs, and thus, common use of them has been prohibited by the NDPS Act:

Coca Plant- Leaf or other derivatives including cocaine. It also includes any preparation which contains 0.1% cocaine.
Opium- This category includes poppy straw, poppy plant, opium poppy juice, and any preparation having 0.2% morphine. Derivatives of opium include morphine, heroin, thebaine, etc.
Cannabis- Resin (Charas and Hashish), plant, fruit tops and flowering of the plant (Ganja), or any mixture of Ganja, Charas and Hashish are all included in this category. It is important to note that cannabis leaves i.e., bhang is excluded from this category and is regulated by the state laws.

Let's take a look at the punishments that are given to offenders under the NDPS Act (Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) of 1985.

SECTION	OFFENCES	PUNISHMENT
		MIN.		MAX.
		Rigorous Imprisonment	Fine (Rs.)	Rigorous Imprisonment	Fine (Rs.)
Section 15	Punishment for contravention in relation to poppy straw. Anyone engaging in the production, possession, transportation, inter-state import or export, sale, purchase, use, or omission to warehouse poppy straw, or any action related to warehoused poppy straw shall be subject to punishment.	1 Year (for small quantity), 10 Years (for lesser than commercial quantity but greater than small quantity).	Rs. 10,000 (for small quantity), 1 Lakh (for lesser than commercial quantity but greater than small quantity).	20 Years (for commercial quantity).	Rs. 2 Lakh (for commercial quantity).
Section 16	Punishment for contravention in relation to coca plant and coca leaves. Anyone cultivating any coca plant or gathering any portion of a coca plant or produces possesses, sells, purchases, transports, imports inter-state, exports inter-state, or uses coca leaves shall be subject to punishment.			10 Years.	Rs. 1 Lakh.
Section 18	Punishment for contravention in relation to opium poppy and opium. Anyone cultivating the opium poppy or engaging in the production, manufacturing, possession, sale, purchase, transportation, inter-state import, inter-state export, or use of opium shall be subject to punishment.	1 Year (for small quantity),10 Years (for any other case).	Rs. 10,000 (for small quantity),1 Lakh (for any other case).	20 Years (for commercial quantity).	Rs. 2 Lakh (for commercial quantity).
Section 19	Punishment for embezzlement of opium by cultivator Any cultivator, licensed to cultivate the opium poppy on account of the Central Government, embezzling or otherwise illegally disposing of the opium produced or any part thereof shall be subject to punishment.	10 Years.	Rs. 1 Lakh.	20 Years.	Rs. 2 Lakh.
Section 20	Punishment for contravention in relation to cannabis plant and cannabis Anyone cultivating any cannabis plant; or producing, manufacturing, possessing, selling, purchasing, transporting, importing inter-state, exporting inter-state, or using cannabis shall be subject to punishment.	1 Year [for small quantity with respect to clause (b)], 10 Years [for lesser than commercial quantity but greater than small quantity with respect to clause (b)].	Rs. 10,000 [for small quantity with respect to clause (b)], 1 Lakh [for lesser than commercial quantity but greater than small quantity with respect to clause (b)].	10 Years [for clause (a)], 20 Years [for commercial quantity with respect to clause (b)].	Rs. 1 Lakh for clause (a), 2 Lakh [for commercial quantity with respect to clause (b)].
Section 17, 21, and 22	Punishment for contravention in relation to prepared opium (17) manufactured drugs and preparations (21), and psychotropic substances (22) Anyone manufacturing, possessing, selling, purchasing, transporting, importing inter-state, exporting inter-state, or using prepared opium, any manufactured drug, or any preparation containing any manufactured drug, and psychotropic substances shall be subject to punishment.	1 Year (for small quantity), 10 Years (for lesser than commercial quantity but greater than small quantity).	Rs. 10,000 (for small quantity), 1 Lakh (for lesser than commercial quantity but greater than small quantity).	20 Years (for commercial quantity).	Rs. 2 Lakh (for commercial quantity).
Section 23	Punishment for illegal import into India, export from India, or transshipment of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.	1 Year (for small quantity), 10 Years (for lesser than commercial quantity but greater than small quantity)	Rs. 10,000 (for small quantity), 1 Lakh (for lesser than commercial quantity but greater than small quantity.	20 Years (for commercial quantity).	Rs. 2 Lakh (for commercial quantity).
Section 24	Punishment for external dealings in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances in contravention of section 12.	10 Years.	Rs. 1 Lakh.	20 Years.	Rs. 2 Lakh.
Section 25	Punishment for allowing premises, etc., to be used for the commission of an offense. Anyone, being the owner or occupier or having the control or use of any house, room, enclosure, space, place, animal or conveyance, knowingly permits it to be used for the commission by any other person of an offense punishable under the Act shall be subject to punishment.	Punishable with the punishment stipulated for the authorized offense.
Section 25A	Punishment for contravention of orders made under Section 9A.			10 Years.	Rs. 1 Lakh.
Section 26	Punishment for certain acts by the licensee or his servants. If an individual, holding a license or is represented by an agent/servant: Neglects, without any justifiable reason, to maintain accounts Fails, without any justifiable reason, to present the license, permit, or authorization upon demand Maintains false accounts or provides knowingly false statements Willfully or knowingly engages in actions violating the conditions of the license. is subject to punishment.			3 Years.	or with fine, or with both.
Section 27	Punishment for consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance. where the narcotic drug or psychotropic substance consumed is cocaine, morphine, diacetylmorphine or some other narcotic drug or any psychotropic substance as may be specified by the Central Government or by notification in the Official Gazette. where the narcotic drug or psychotropic substance consumed is other than those predetermined in or under clause (a).			1 Year [for clause (a)], 6 Months [for clause (b)].	Rs. 20,000 [for clause (a)], Rs. 10,000 [for clause (b)].
Section 27A	Punishment for financing illicit traffic and harboring offenders. Anyone who indulges in financing, directly or indirectly, any, of the activities specified in sub-clauses (i) to (v) of Section 2 (viiib) or harbors any person engaged in any of the aforementioned activities shall be subject to punishment.	10 Years.	Rs. 1 Lakh.	20 Years.	Rs. 2 Lakh.
Section 27B	Punishment for contravention of section 8A.	3 Years.	also liable to fine.	10 Years.	also liable to fine.
Section 28	Punishment for attempts to commit offences. Anyone who attempts to commit any offense punishable under Chapter IV of the Act or cause such offense to be committed and in such attempts does any act towards the commission of the offense shall be subject to punishment.	Punishable with the punishment provided for that offense.
Section 29	Punishment for abetment and criminal conspiracy. Anyone who abets, or is a party to a criminal conspiracy, an offense punishable under Chapter IV of the Act, whether such offense be or be not committed in consequence of such abetment or in pursuance of such criminal conspiracy shall be subject to punishment.	Punishable from the punishment provided for that offense.
Section 30	Preparation Punishment for preparations to do anything or commission to do anything that constitutes an offense punishable under any of the provisions of Sections 15 to 25.	One-half of the provided punishment.
Section 31	Enhanced punishment for offenses after a previous conviction. If a person who has already been convicted of certain offenses under the Act is later convicted again for similar offenses, he/she is subject to punishment for the second and every subsequent offense.	One and one-half times the provided punishment.
Section 31A	Death penalty for certain offenses after previous conviction. Punishment for subsequent conviction in respect of, a commission of, or attempt to commit, or abetment of, or criminal conspiracy to commit, an offense relating to production, manufacture, possession, transportation, import into India, or transshipment of narcotic drugs of psychotropic substances for specified quantities of certain narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances as mentioned in the section.	Death Penalty.
Section 32	Punishment for an offense for which no punishment is provided.			6 Months.	or with a fine, or with both.