The Centre will soon begin a national survey to find the extent and pattern of substance use, seeking to formulate a holistic policy to tackle the menace of drug addiction in the country.
Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment and National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC) under the AIIMS today signed a Memorandum of Understanding in this regard.
The last such national survey was carried out in 2001, officials said, adding, the new survey would be conducted over a period of two years.
The MoU was signed in the presence of Union Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment Thaawarchand Gehlot at the ministry's office in Shastri Bhawan here.
AIIMS representatives at the event said, while the 2001 survey was just a pan-India survey, this exercise would also produce data for individual states and union territories as well.
"Our ministry is the the nodal ministry for drug demand reduction. At present, we do not have any definitive or estimated figure as to what is the number of people in the country who have resorted to drug use. And, therefore, a national survey was a requirement.
"And, once it is over, the data produced by it would help us formulate polices for de-addiction and rehabilitation across the country. The survey would be conducted over a representative population of over 6 lakh, comprising samples from all states and UTs," Gehlot told reporters.
NDDTC Chief Dr Sudhir K Khandelwal said, survey would also include tobacco and alcohol users.
"In the last survey, only adult males were surveyed. This time we are including females in adults category as well as children. Besides, there is a provision for special population like prisoners, transgenders, homosexuals," Khandelwal told PTI.
Two methodological approaches are to be used in the exercise, christened 'National Survey to Find the Extent and Pattern of Substance Use' -- the household or door-to-door survey which will comprise 6 lakh eligible persons, and respondent-driven sampling (RDS) during which 60,000 drug-dependent individuals would be interviewed, the ministry said.
"We are surveying for users of alcohol, tobacco, opiates and clubbed drugs like methamphetamine and LSD, among other substance users. The door-to-door technique of sampling would be used in case of alcohol and tobacco users while RDS would be used in case of opium and cannabis users, among others," the NDDTC Chief said.
Dr S K Acharya, Dean (Research), All India Institute of Medical Sciences said, the roadmap for the survey has been set and through this exercise we would not only be able to get a representative picture of drug addiction in the country, but also identify "hot spots", or places where substance use is quite high.
"This would also help the government to allocate fund with a proper scope of its rehabilitation plan," he said.
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