Gandhi says that the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act 1985, which came into force in 1985, has failed to make India drug-free and to curtail “the dangerous network of drug mafias across the nation”.

According to a News18 report, Gandhi’s “bill seeks to permit authorised and monitored sale of soft drugs and seeks to legitimise cultivation, production, possession, manufacture, sale, transport, and inter-state export, import, use and consumption of such soft drugs”.

Gandhi said that the NDPS Act was introduced with the intention of complying with United Nations’ conventions on drugs.