Weeks after a huge drug abuse scandal hit Tollywood in 2017, Kethireddy Jagadishwar Reddy (who has been associated with both Telugu cinema and Telugu politics) filed a PIL with the Supreme Court, demanding that the government should be directed to take stringent action against drug peddlers, etc.  

On Monday, a bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud directed the Centre to come up with proper guidelines.  

Arguing on behalf of the Centre, Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh today said that the All India Institute of Medical Sciences has been duly directed to collect data about narcotics and their use, among others, in India.  The Centre sees data collection as a first step towards formulating a comprehensive policy to "check cultivation, use and supply of narcotics in India."

The next hearing has been listed for Sept 10.