Ministry of Social Justice shares drug abuse prevention measures

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has organised a meet on June 28 to mark the International day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking observed on June 26, to share the progress in this area and the steps taken for drug demand reduction. United Nations has urged all the countries to make some collective changes to 'realise the global commitments'.

"Drug and substance abuse is a serious problem adversely affecting the social fabric of the country. Addiction to drugs changes the basic fabric of society in all its aspects. It not only affects the health of the individual but also causes disruption and destabilisation of families, diminishes productivity, spreads corruption, causes a general decimation of moral standards and values and is a drain on the economy," said Thaawar Chand Gehlot, Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment.

About 20 per cent of the drug addicts in India are under 21. As per the last National Survey conducted by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), for the year 2000-2001, on the trends and pattern of drug abuse in India on a sample size of 40,697 abusers between 12 and 60 years age, 21 per cent were known to consume alcohol every month and over 0.7 percent have taken some kind of Opioids drugs in the last one month. This last survey was done in 2002, and the data was made available in 2004.

For the next National Survey on Extent and Pattern of Substance Use, Ministry has assigned the work to National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC), AIIMS, New Delhi and a MoU was signed between this Ministry and AIIMS on August 28, 2016.