The survey, which has earned the ministry a lot of flak, will also be discussed on May 15 in a meeting of the council of ministers with PM Modi
With India's drug statistics more than 15 years old, the social justice and empowerment ministry has now formed a consultative committee to undertake a survey. The committee, which has senior ministry officials including the secretary and members from the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC) of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) as members, will meet on Tuesday to discuss the challenges ahead.
The survey, which has earned the ministry a lot of flak, will also be discussed on May 15 in a meeting of the council of ministers with PM Modi. A senior ministry official said that they have been communicated about the urgency of the matter, and the aim is to complete an exhaustive survey by 2018.
"The process for the drug survey has been initiated, and within a few months a national-level household survey will be undertaken. The drug statistics are old, and since then new drugs have emerged in the market," said professor Rakesh Kumar Chadha, chair of NDDTC, adding that they want to start the survey by the end of the year.
In 2015, the NDDTC had proposed a national-level survey to understand the nature of the beast. The proposal said that the survey would be undertaken in collaboration with regional medical institutes, regional resource and training centres and district level agencies. The social justice ministry, however, suggested that the work will be undertaken after tenders are floated. However, the ministry is yet to finalise an agency for the purpose. The 2015 proposal, however, was not the first time a survey was considered; there have been several such proposals.
The last survey, conducted in 2001, revealed that over 1 crore people in India are addicted to alcohol, 23 lakh were addicted to cannabis while 5 lakh were addicted to opiates. A Lok Sabha standing committee, headed by MP Ramesh Bias, in its 2017 report pulled up the ministry for not carrying out the survey. The report also pointed at the lack of adequate de-addiction centres, with only four such centres for women across the country, and none for juveniles.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Drugs")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}