Does India have a drug abuse problem? Centre hopes to find out with a national survey

The government of India is conducting a national survey through the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), in a bid to ascertain the extent of substance abuse in the country.

The results of the survey are likely to be released by 2018.

Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawar Chand Gehlot said in Rajya Sabha on 4 August that the survey would be conducted through an agency of the AIIMS in Delhi. Gehlot stressed that the government provide the support required to carry out the survey effectively.

"The Ministry has recently assigned the work of conducting the national survey on the extent and pattern of substance use to national drug dependence treatment centre, All India Institude of Medical Sciences, New Delhi," he said in a written reply.

Gehlot said the national policy on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 2012 has a provision for such a survey to be conducted every five years to study the change and pattern of drug abuse.

He said the policy was framed in 2012 and that the government "felt the need for an extensive survey as to the number of people who have taken to drugs abuse."

"The survey should have been held every five years, but no such survey was conducted by the previous UPA government. At present, it is estimated that around 7.21 crore people are affected due to drugs," the minister said.

--With inputs from PTI