Fight against menace of substance abuse
Drug menace is so alarming worldwide that the special session of UN General Assembly on drug policy which was scheduled to take place in 2019 was brought forward to take place in year 2016. There are three international conventions, namely, 'Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs', 1961, 'Convention on Psychotropic Substances',1971 and 'Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drug and Psychotropic Substances', 1988 to which India is a signatory. It covers India's commitment to the international community in combating the use and abuse of psychotropic substances. At home, there is a policy document which was brought out in 2012 by The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to guide ministries, state governments, NGOs, international organisations on gamut of issues related to reduction in demand and supply, relief and rehabilitation.
Recently, the ministry released findings of a nationwide comprehensive survey which was undertaken last year to know magnitude, spread and extent of substance use in the country. This document provides data across all the states, for the first time ,about the extent of problem and will enable policy makers and planners in determining the target of demand reduction. The survey report will prove to be milestone in the fight against substance use and problem.
As the survey report shows, alcohol continues to be the most common psychoactive substance used in India though its prevalence varies across the states. In contrast to the common perception about Punjab, Chhatisgarh occupies top position both in prevalence of use and dependence followed closely by Tripura and Punjab in that order. The national average is that every seventh person is current user of alcohol and out of that, every fifth person requires medical intervention for being alcohol dependent. On gender classification on use, men constitute 27.3% of population whereas women constitute just 1.6%. Delhi with 21.3% of population as current user of alcohol is much above the national average of 14.6 %.
Cannabis and Opioids occupy the second and third position in prevalence of substance use. On national level 3.1 crore people (2.8%) use cannabis which includes bhang and charas/ganja. The states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Sikkim, Chhattisgarh and Delhi top the list and have prevalence more than the national average. Sikkim and Punjab have much higher cannabis use disorder than other states.
The most common opioid used are heroin, pharmaceutical opioid and opium coming in same order in use prevalence showing that heroin is now the predominant opioid which is a major shift in use pattern. But in southern states pharmaceutical opioids are predominantly used. On national level 2.06 % of population come under the category of current users and around one third of them are problem users requiring intervention. Among the states Mizoram , closely followed by Nagaland, tops the chart of use where the prevalence is more than 12 times the national average. Punjab (9.69%) and Delhi (7.79%) also have much higher user load.
Sedatives and inhalants are also used as psychoactive substance. About 1.18 crore people (1.08 %) use sedatives which are non medical and non prescription. North eastern states Sikkim, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur top the chart in maximum prevalence in use of sedatives. Among all the substances, inhalants are the only substance for which prevalence of use among children and adolescents are more than adults.
With this survey report out, the states have their tasks cut out to accelerate the action to combat the menace of substance abuse.
On June 26, which is observed as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, the states and the national capital will join the world community in creating more awareness about the gigantic problem, and express resolve in taking on the challenge.
