India and the US Plan a Joint Crackdown on Drug Cartels and the Synthetic Drug Trade
The second meeting of the India-US Drug Policy Executive Working Group was held in New Delhi on 2 and 3 November 2026. India's Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) hosted it. The first meeting of this group was held in Washington, DC, in January 2026.
The Indian side was led by the Director General of the NCB. The US side was led by a senior official of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the US body that sets national drug policy.
Both sides agreed to work against transnational drug cartels (criminal gangs that run drug trade across many countries) and the flow of synthetic drugs, which are drugs made from chemicals in laboratories, not from plants.
India presented a network-centric enforcement model. This means going after the whole chain behind the trade (financiers, suppliers, middlemen and transport networks) instead of only arresting carriers and seizing drugs. It is part of India's narcotics control roadmap for 2026 to 2029.
The two countries endorsed operational milestones, including steps to stop precursor chemicals (legal chemicals that can be misused to make drugs) from being diverted to drug makers. They discussed real-time intelligence sharing, secure pharmaceutical supply chains, and demand reduction and rehabilitation.
India's Operation MedMax (2025), which exposed a network sending tramadol and other medicines abroad illegally, Operation WIPE (April 2026) against illegal online listings of NDPS-regulated medicines, and India's voluntary code of conduct for industry on precursor diversion were welcomed at the meeting.
Precursor Chemicals and Synthetic Drug Control
Precursor chemicals are ordinary industrial chemicals that are needed to make illegal drugs. Most of them have honest uses, in medicines, paints, plastics, perfumes or dyes. But in the wrong hands, the same chemical becomes a key ingredient for heroin, methamphetamine or fentanyl. Precursor control means watching the legal trade in these chemicals so closely that they cannot leak to drug makers.
Stopping the diversion of precursor chemicals was one of the main operational milestones agreed at the India-US meeting in New Delhi. Because India is a big chemical and pharmaceutical producer, the US sees India's precursor controls, its voluntary industry code of conduct and real-time information sharing as central to cutting off the supply of synthetic drugs like fentanyl.
India-US Counter-Narcotics Cooperation
India-US counter-narcotics cooperation is the set of agreements and regular meetings through which the two countries work together against drug trafficking. It covers sharing intelligence, joint action against cartels, control of precursor chemicals, safe medicine supply chains, and treatment of people who use drugs. It has grown from a working group into a broad "drug policy framework" over the last few years.
The New Delhi meeting of November 2026 was the second meeting of the Drug Policy Executive Working Group set up under the 2024 framework. It took forward Pillar One (joint action against cartels and precursor diversion) and Pillar Three (secure pharmaceutical supply chains), and India used it to present its network-centric model for breaking up trafficking networks.
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985
The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, usually called the NDPS Act, is India's main law against drugs. It decides which drugs are controlled, who may grow, make, sell or use them, and how heavily people are punished for breaking the rules. It also allows some controlled drugs to be used for medical and scientific purposes. The law is how India carries out its duties under the three UN drug treaties.
The NDPS Act is the legal base that lets the NCB act against the cartels, online sellers and precursor diverters discussed with the US. Operation WIPE, for example, targets illegal online listings of medicines that are regulated under this Act.
- 2nd India-US Drug Policy Executive Working Group: New Delhi, 2 and 3 November 2026, hosted by the NCB
- 1st Drug Policy Executive Working Group: Washington, DC, January 2026
- US lead body: White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)
- India's narcotics control roadmap: 2026 to 2029; stresses network-centric investigations, precursor control and financial investigations
- Operation MedMax (2025): exposed a network trafficking tramadol and other psychotropic medicines abroad
- Operation WIPE (April 2026): against illegal online listings of NDPS-regulated medicines
- US-India Drug Policy Framework MoU: September 2024; Counter Narcotics Working Group: since 2020
- 1988 UN Convention, Article 12: precursors in Table I and Table II; India acceded on 27 March 1990
- NDPS Act Section 9A (controlled substances) and Section 25A (up to 10 years); NDPS (Regulation of Controlled Substances) Order, 2013