The TLDR: Over the weekend, the police separately conducted raids and made prominent arrests targeting movie stars in two cities: Bangalore and Mumbai. The Mumbai case is, of course, a spin-off of the investigation into Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. In Bangalore, the latest crackdown was triggered by the arrest of a drug dealer. Both are making a big splash—which is likely the aim—but do little to address India’s very real drug problem.

The Sandalwood raids

A quick timeline

• On August 21, the police raided the home of a drug dealer named Ravindra—which led to the arrest of another dealer and eventually Anikha D.
• She is the prime suspect and is accused of selling drugs to both students and a network of celebs, including actors, musicians and models.
• Her diary allegedly contains the names of 15 such celebrities. 
• Soon after, Indrajit Lankesh—brother of Gauri—made a police statement claiming he’s personally witnessed the widespread use of drugs in the Kannada film industry.
• The prominent arrest so far: Actor Ragini Dwivedi whose house was raided Friday morning. Twelve people have been arrested so far.

The drugs involved: The police recovered significant amounts of MDMA (a purer form of Ecstasy) and LSD from the alleged dealers. There’s no news of what was found in Dwivedi’s home. 

Why now? The government is apparently alarmed by the rising levels of drug use in the city, and across the state. According to the state home ministry, the use of cocaine has doubled in five years. The total amount of all drugs seized in raids has jumped from 500 kg in 2015/16 to 1,500-2,000 kg now. Also: the war on drugs has now become a prime issue for the state party: “BJP is committed to ensuring that Karnataka becomes drug-free. This menace must be eliminated, lock, stock and barrel.”

Why movie stars? The state home minister declared: “Everyone involved in the drugs business, however influential or popular, will be punished to set an example to others indulging in the menace.”

The Bollywood arrests

A quick timeline

• Rhea Chakraborty has been under investigation by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate ever since Rajput’s family filed an FIR claiming various things—including harassment and embezzlement. 
• The focus of the investigation has since shifted to money laundering.
• So far there is little evidence of such crimes, but on August 26 the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) registered a new case against Chakraborty, her brother Showik and Rajput’s house manager Samuel Miranda—on the basis of WhatsApp chats shared by the ED.
• On Friday, the police raided the siblings’ residence in Mumbai—but it isn’t clear if they found anything. 
• Miranda and Showik have been arrested, and Rhea was questioned for six hours on Sunday. Also arrested: Rajput’s cook, Dipesh Sawant. 

This is what it looked like when Rhea was called into questioning:

The drugs involved: Rhea and her brother are accused of using Rajput’s employees to procure some form of cannabis—though specifics range from one report to another.

As per the NCB’s court filing—based on WhatsApp messages—on March 17, Showik procured 5 gms of cannabis. On April 17, Rhea and Showik procured 10 gms of charas. And over the month of May, Showik took delivery of 50 gm of charas and 100 gm of ganja.  

OTOH, NCB “sources” told The Print that the case involves ‘bud’—which the publication oddly calls a “curated form of marijuana,” and claims it is “procured on the dark-web using cryptocurrency.” The proof: Showik’s WhatsApp messages that say, “My dealer is not available, but my friend is sending a few numbers for bud. It’ll be good bud.”

Also in the mix: CBD oil, which is completely legal, and used to treat anxiety or depression. A leaked WhatsApp conversation shows Rhea discussing mixing it with chai. 

Defining the drug: ‘Bud’ is used to refer to the flower of the marijuana plant—which contains the highest THC content (the bit that helps a person get 'high'). The word is used in popular parlance to refer to any form of marijuana. Ganja is another word for bud. Charas is a resin extracted from the plant. 

Why now? With the critical Bihar elections round the corner, the art and culture wing of the Bihar BJP has rolled out posters, car stickers and face masks featuring Rajput. See below: the poster—which says in Hindi, ‘Na bhule hain, na bhulne denge’ (We have neither forgotten nor will let anyone forget). The atrocious looking face mask is here. Point to note: the state BJP denies any political motive and Rajput’s death is “an emotional, not a political matter.” 

FYI: “Although the Rajputs constitute only 4% of Bihar’s population, they are dominant upper castes who can influence others to vote for a party. They are largely associated with the BJP and the JD(U).”

The big picture

Here are some key stats about drug abuse in India that put these cases in perspective.

• 2.7% (29 million) of the population is addicted to alcohol. Only 0.25% (2.8 million) are addicted to cannabis—though some forms are more addictive than others.
• 26 million people in India have used or use opioids—the most common being heroin. 
• 460,000 children and 1.8 million adults are addicted to inhalants (or ‘sniffing’). 
• The ‘drug problem’ is far, far worse in states like Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab—where moderate opium use has been replaced by severe addiction to heroin and pharmaceutical drugs.
• Most drug addicts in India are not affluent celebs but mostly young, male and poorly educated—be it in Maharashtra or Punjab.
• Our drug laws treat every kind of drug-related offence—whether it involves recreational use or peddling, small or large amounts—as a serious non-bailable crime.
• Last but not least: marijuana was legal in India until 1985—when ganja and charas were made illegal, but bhang was left untouched.

Reading list

Shashi Tharoor just co-wrote a piece in The Print arguing for the legalization of marijuana. Also a good read in The Print: How Indians confuse addicts with criminals. Quint has a great piece on how the crackdown on opium created an epidemic of heroin addiction in Punjab. The most recent data on drug addiction in India is in this 2019 government report. BBC News and Economic Times have more on the drug epidemic (or chitta economy) in Punjab—which is far more representative of India’s substance abuse problem than high-profile raids.