Social Justice Ministry failed to conduct natl survey on drug

A parliamentary committee has expressed disappointment over the failure of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to finalise an agency for conducting a national survey on the extent of drug abuse in the country.

The Ministry in their action taken report has said that they were still in the process of finalising an agency for conducting the survey.

Stating that conducting a national survey is "sine qua non" for assessing the extent of drug abuse and subsequently treating and rehabilitating the affected, the Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment disapproved the "delayed approach" by the Ministry in taking a final decision on the survey.
 

As per the Committee's report, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has informed that the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) had declined to carry out the survey and that it had approached the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi for the same.

The Committee stated that the Ministry should consult AIIMS, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) among others, who are "working in this field to decide the modalities and procedure of conducting the survey and again approach the NSSO to conduct the nationwide survey on drug abuse."

It also noted that despite the rise of drug and substance abuse among women, the Ministry has not bothered to find out the exact statistics of the same and set up sufficient centres for women.

It urged the Ministry to set up more exclusive centres for the treatment and rehabilitation of women and juvenile drug addicts, especially in northern and north-east states.

The parliamentary panel asked the Ministry to focus on the high rates of addiction in states with large population such as Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha etc, and not just stress on conducting awareness generation programmes in Punjab and Manipur on the basis of a survey conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in 2000-2001.

Asserting that "early prevention and intervention" are an integral part of the treatment programme for drug addicts, the Committee said the Ministry should consider integration of drug abuse prevention, stress management and life skills education in NCERT school curriculum.