No person shall—
(a) cultivate any coca plant or gather any portion of coca plant; or
(b) cultivate the opium poppy or any cannabis plant; or
(c) produce, manufacture, possess, sell, purchase, transport, warehouse, use, consume, import inter-State, export inter-State, import into India, export from India or tranship any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance,
except for medical or scientific purposes and in the manner and to the extent provided by the provisions of this Act or the rules or orders made thereunder:
Provided that, and subject to the other provisions of this Act and the rules made thereunder, the prohibition against the cultivation of the cannabis plant for the production of ganja, or the production, possession, use, consumption, purchase, sale, transport, warehousing, import inter-State and export inter-State of ganja for any purpose other than medical and scientific purpose shall take effect only from the date which the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify in this behalf.
Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 8
The foundational substantive embargo of the NDPS Act is codified in this section, establishing a blanket statutory prohibition against the cultivation of coca, opium poppy, and cannabis plants, as well as the production, manufacturing, possession, sale, purchase, transportation, warehousing, consumption, import, export, or transhipment of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance. The statutory prohibition operates as an absolute rule of strict liability, admitting of narrow exceptions only where an operation is conducted exclusively for medical or scientific purposes pursuant to a valid license, permit, or authorization issued under the Act or statutory rules.
Given the gravity of these statutory presumptions and the severe penal consequences across Chapter IV, the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the prosecution must prove initial conscious possession beyond reasonable doubt through meticulous compliance with mandatory search, seizure, and sampling protocols.
Every charging section in Chapter IV is fundamentally anchored to a violation of Section 8. Because mere possession is criminalized without requiring proof of intent to distribute, the law demands indisputable proof of conscious physical possession by the prosecution before statutory presumptions of guilt are engaged.