India staring at a substance abuse crisis, survey finds

A concerning number of India’s youth is suffering from alcohol, cannabis, or opioid addictions.

Alcohol is the most commonly used psychoactive substance by people in India, followed by cannabis and opioids, according to the national survey. | Photo Credit: Pradeep Gaur/SOPA/Zuma/picture alliance

Around 15.8 million children aged between 10 and 17 years are addicted to substances in India, the Indian government informed the Supreme Court last week.

In the first comprehensive national survey on the extent and patterns of substance abuse in India, the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre found a sizable population affected by substance abuse disorders. The survey was conducted in all 36 states and union territories of the country in collaboration with 10 other medical institutes and 15 NGOs. Over 1,500 personnel were involved in data collection.

What did the study find?

Alcohol is the most commonly used psychoactive substance by people in India, followed by cannabis and opioids, according to the national survey. States with the highest prevalence of cannabis use include Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Sikkim, and Chhattisgarh.

“Over 30 million individuals use cannabis products and about 2.5 million suffer from cannabis dependence,” the report said, adding that “22.6 million people use opioids and approximately 7.7 million individuals require help for opioid use problems.”

It also found opioid users comprise 2.06 per cent of the country’s population, and that 1.7 per cent of children and adolescents are inhalant users and adults 0.58 per cent. The report noted that among people suffering from dependence on illicit drugs, three in four persons don’t receive treatment.

Health experts warn that the figures for substance abuse in India are actually much higher. “Reach of the national programs for treatment of substance use disorders is grossly inadequate,” the report noted.

Other categories of drugs—namely cocaine, amphetamine-type stimulants, and hallucinogens—are used by a small proportion of the country’s population.

Weak policies behind drug abuse rise

The findings indicate that despite the existence of strict drug control laws and a multitude of agencies working towards drug supply control throughout India, a wide variety of controlled drugs are still being used. “Results also indicate a shift in demand for psychoactive substances from traditional, low-potency, plant-based products like opium to more potent and processed products like heroin,” a Health Ministry official, who requested anonymity, told DW.

Many States lack policies to prevent substance abuse. Government-run schools typically don’t organise sensitisation and awareness programs about drug abuse.

According to H.S. Phoolka, a lawyer for “Bachpan Bachao Andolan”, an India-based children’s rights movement which filed a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court over concerns of drug abuse among children, told DW that the issue is far more serious than what the findings of the national survey revealed.

“There are huge numbers of children who are affected and not counted in this survey…they are addicts. Drug availability in schools and its vicinity is a problem and finally they become peddlers,” Phoolka told DW.

Opioid misuse poses major public health challenge

The northern state of Punjab is seeing particularly alarming levels of drug abuse. In the past six months, the number of patients in Punjab’s Outpatient Opioid Assisted Treatment clinics increased from around 4,00,000 to about 8,00,000.

“It is an alarming situation. Addiction is increasing and that is also because of the easy availability of drugs and the consequence of this falls directly on society, neighborhoods and families,” Harpreet Singh, a counsellor from Chandigarh, told DW. Singh warns that opioid misuse could become a major public health challenge in many states.

According to a separate study carried out in Punjab, over 75 per cent of the state’s youth are struggling with drug abuse. It also estimated that at least 30 per cent of jail inmates have been arrested for illegal possession of drugs under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

Given the latest findings, the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry, along with several other government departments, have prepared a national action plan for drug demand reduction. “Planning for a national level treatment program will take into account both the high prevalence as well as the magnitude of the problem for prioritization among the states,” a senior official in the ministry who requested anonymity told DW.