Practice area
Psychotropic substances and pharmaceutical cases
Defence of pharmacists, distributors and individuals in cases involving psychotropic substances and prescription medicines.
Many medicines are controlled under the NDPS Act, including some tablets and cough syrups. Pharmacists, distributors and transporters can face prosecution for documentation lapses, and patients for medicines they hold on prescription.
What this work involves
- Prescription medicines: the legal position of patients and caregivers who carry controlled medicines
- Pharmacies and distributors: licences, invoices, stock registers and the paper trail that must support every sale
- Transport of consignments, and the documentation required for movement
- Cases involving manufactured drugs and psychotropic substances, and the correct classification of quantity
- Regulatory and criminal overlap with drug licensing authorities
- Bail, quashing and trial defence
Frequently asked questions
Can a patient be prosecuted for carrying prescribed medicines?
A valid prescription and documentation are important defences. The facts of the case, such as quantity and records, decide the position.
What records should a pharmacy keep?
Licences, purchase and sale invoices, stock registers and prescriptions, maintained as the law and the rules require.
Related reading
Section 37 of the NDPS Act: why bail is harder in commercial-quantity cases
How the twin conditions of Section 37 NDPS work, which cases they cover, and what that means for a bail application.
Search and seizureSection 50 of the NDPS Act: the right to be searched before a Gazetted Officer or Magistrate
What Section 50 of the NDPS Act requires before a personal search, and how courts have treated non-compliance.
Statements and noticesStatements under Section 67 of the NDPS Act: are they admissible?
What Section 67 of the NDPS Act allows, and what the Supreme Court held in Tofan Singh about statements recorded by NDPS officers.