Lok Sabha passes amended narcotic drugs bill

• Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2011, simplifying the regulations for procuring and possessing narcotic drugs when used for medicinal purposes.
• It would bring relief to thousands of cancer patients in the country who use opium for acute and chronic pain relief.
• Use of morphine was under strict regulation under the NDPS Act, 1985, and lengthy bureaucratic procedures discouraged its manufacturing in the country and limited its availability at medical institutions that care for cancer patients.
• The move will result in cancer patients in India getting an easier access to morphine for the first time since 1985 when the country enacted the Narcotics law. 
• The hospitals will now be allowed to prescribe and supply morphine to patients by applying for a single permit.
• The amendments will prescribe the forms and conditions of licence or permits for the manufacture, possession, transport, import inter-State, export inter-State, sale, purchase, consumption or use of essential narcotic drugs and charge a fee for that.