Sikkim’s Alternative Model to Tackle Drug Abuse: An Analysis of the Sikkim Anti-Drugs Act, 2006

In one of the few instances of rehabilitative approach to policy making in criminal justice system, Sikkim's 2017 and 2018 amendments to Anti-Drug Act, 2006 have moved away completely from criminalisation of drug use to voluntary detoxication and rehabilitation to tackle drug use in the state. Along with this legislative alteration, the Government has partnered with NGOs to initiate awareness drives and peer education on drug addiction. As a result of this new approach, the piece records that the number of undertrials in Sikkim Central jail for drug use went down from over 200 to a mere 66. This alternate model may provide a solution to the problems with the NDPS Act, the piece argues.