Shah unveils 3-yr plan to end drug trade

India has unveiled a comprehensive three-year national roadmap to dismantle drug trafficking networks, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah releasing the Vision Document on Drug Control (2026-2029) and the Narcotics Control Bureau Annual Report-2025. Shah declared the government's intention to strike the entire narcotics ecosystem so decisively that it "will not be able to recover for decades." The plan, engaging more than 40 ministries and departments, focuses on coordinated enforcement, intelligence gathering, prevention, and rehabilitation.

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Under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, we will strike the entire drug trade ecosystem so decisively over the next three years that it will not be able to recover for decades.

Shah emphasized that the next three years are "crucial" in the fight against narcotics, setting a national target of making India drug-free by 2047. The roadmap is structured around four key pillars: enforcement, intelligence and operations; precursor and synthetic drug control; demand reduction and rehabilitation; and capacity building and coordination. The strategy shifts focus from arresting individual couriers to dismantling entire trafficking networks, aiming to take down 100 major interstate and transnational drug cartels by tracing financial trails and seizing illicit assets.

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Our aim is to conduct targeted intelligence-led action against the entire network and destroy it completely. We have to adopt a strategy to stop drugs at the production stage itself.

The initiative also prioritizes curbing synthetic drugs, reviewing precursor chemicals, enhancing border surveillance with AI and anti-drone technology, and strengthening de-addiction services. The government is also examining loopholes in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and re-examining the scheduling of precursor chemicals. Shah urged state governments to make financial investigations mandatory in major NDPS cases and strengthen anti-narcotic capabilities, highlighting the collective responsibility in this national battle.

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Today our country stands at a critical turning point in the fight against narcotics, where the next three years will decide whether the drug trade will defeat us or we will defeat it.