(E-2:) A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF CONFLICTS IN NARCOTICS, PSYCHOTROPIC, AND PROHIBITED SUBSTANCES LAWS IN PAKISTAN: THE DILEMMA NEEDS TO BE RESOLVED

Abstract

The study scrutinizes Pakistan’s fragmented legal framework governing narcotics, psychotropic substances, and controlled drugs. It is intended to highlight systemic inconsistencies, jurisdictional conflicts, and operational gaps arising from the basic statutory framework and its correlated legislation, the Customs Act 1969, Anti-Narcotics Force Act 1997, Anti-Money Laundering Act 2010, which address the trafficking, licensing and crime proceeds of the drugs. The article outlines the progression of law from colonial statutes such as the Opium Act 1878 and Dangerous Drugs Act 1930 to the contemporary Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997 (CNSA) and its provincial successors, besides special legislation under Hudood Ordinance. The parallel legislation may, it is suggested, create impediments for the country in discharging its international obligations under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961, the Convention on Psychotropic Substances 1971, and the 1988 Vienna Convention. The analysis underscores Pakistan’s strategic vulnerability amid shifting Afghan opiate markets and the rapid expansion of methamphetamine trafficking, compounded by limited access to medical opioids and the absence of a rights-based rehabilitation regime. The article also advances a compelling case for consolidation into a unified Narcotics Control Code, harmonizing criminal, procedural, customs, financial, and health regulations. It argues that federal primacy is constitutionally imperative under the 18th Amendment due to international treaty obligations, FATF compliance, and transnational cooperation under mutual legal assistance regimes. Recommendations include: precision scheduling of substances, including drugs offences through digital markets, more focus on trafficking rather than possession, integrated asset recovery mechanisms, and institutional coordination between ANF, Customs, FIA, DRAP, and the judiciary. With Pakistan positioned at the crossroads of global trafficking routes, this article contends that a holistic, codified legal order, aligned with UNODC model laws, is essential to replace punitive fragmentation with a coherent framework of deterrence, accountability, rehabilitation, and international cooperation.