Kochi (Kerala) [India], June 26 : As part of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, the Commissionerate of Customs (Preventive), Kochi, has conducted an awareness campaign for school children under 'Mission Drug Free India'.
Shaikh Khader Rahaman, Chief Commissioner, Central Tax, Central Excise and Customs, Thiruvananthapuram Zone, inaugurated the function, and T Tiju, Commissioner, CCP,Kochi, conducted an Awareness Session for the students at the Govt. Higher Secondary School for Girls, Ernakulam.
Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment launched the National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR) in 2018, with a roadmap extending till 2025. The NAPDDR aims to address the growing challenge of substance abuse through a comprehensive framework focused on preventive education, awareness generation, counselling, treatment, and rehabilitation.
To accurately gauge the extent of this crisis, the Ministry in collaboration with the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC) at AIIMS, New Delhi, conducted India's first-ever comprehensive survey on substance abuse in 2018. The findings, published in 2019, provided crucial insights into the magnitude of drug dependency across the country.
According to the findings of the survey, alcohol emerged as the most widely consumed psychoactive substance, with approximately 16 crore individuals using it. Of these, more than 5.7 crore people are severely affected, requiring immediate treatment and support for harmful or dependent alcohol use.
Cannabis ranked second, with around 3.1 crore individuals consuming cannabis products, of whom approximately 25 lakh suffer from severe dependency.
Opioids, one of the most harmful categories of drugs, are used by approximately 2.26 crore individuals, with nearly 77 lakh requiring urgent intervention and support.
An alarming 8.5 lakh people are estimated to inject drugs intravenously, primarily concentrated in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana.
An alarming trend is the high prevalence of inhalant usage among children and adolescents, significantly exceeding adult consumption.
Substance abuse disproportionately affects males, who significantly outnumber females across all substances studied.
Recognising the critical challenge of substance abuse, the Government of India launched the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (NMBA) on 15 August 2020, a key initiative under the National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR). Initially implemented in 272 high-risk districts--identified through the National Survey on Substance Use and inputs from the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)--the Abhiyaan has since expanded to encompass all districts nationwide. Envisioned as a transformative nation-building mission, NMBA aims to foster a healthy, disciplined, and drug-free youth population, thereby contributing to the broader goal of national development and social well-being.