CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court has held that if a narcotic substance is mixed with a harmless one, then police should consider only the amount of narcotics in the mixture while booking an accused. This is especially true while deciding on whether the drug seized from an individual is of commercial quantity or not.

The Punjab government had insisted — during the hearing of a case before Justice Rajbir Singh Sehrawat — that the entire mixture should be considered while deciding quantity.

But the HC said that if this logic was accepted, even objects of daily living and hospital use, like water and glucose , would be seen as psychotropic substances. The HC added that this would lead to disastrous and absurd results, and gave bail to a resident of Nawanshahr district.

The Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act gives a specific quantity according to which a drug is seen as either for personal consumption or for commercial use, which is smuggling or peddling.

The punishment is much higher if the quantity seized falls in the commercial category.

