International day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking
December 7, 1987, the General Assembly United Nation decided to celebrate June 26 as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking as an expression of its determination is to strengthen action and cooperation to obtain the goal of an international society as free of drug abuse.
Endorsed each year by individuals, communities, and various organizations around the world, this global observation aims to raise awareness of underlying problem that drugs pose in an illicit society.
The theme for 2020
"Better knowledge for better care" emphasizes the need to improve understanding of the global drug problem and consonantly better knowledge on how to prevent its effect on health.
Facts and figure
- There are 3.3 million deaths every year due to harmful use of alcohol.
- Around the world every person aged 15 years or older drinks about 6.2 liters of pure alcohol each year.
- 38.3 % it’s about less than half of the population that actually drinks alcohol Approximately 31 million people have drug use disorder.
- About 11 million people inject the drugs in that 1.3 million are living with HIV AIDS, there are 5.5 million are with hepatitis C, and 1 million with both HIV and hepatitis C.
Drug abuse
Drug abuse is a chronic disease characterized by taking and using drugs that are inevitable or difficult to control despite the harmful consequences.
Facts
The initial decision to take drugs is
their own for majority of people, but repeated use of drugs lead to mental changes
that challenge an addicted self-control and withstand the serious effects of taking the drugs and interfere with their ability.
These brain changes can be persistent, that
is why drug addiction is considered a 'recurring' disease. People who recover
from drug use disorders have an increased risk of using drugs again even after
years of not taking them.
Illicit drug trafficking
Drug trafficking is an illicit global trade involving the cultivation, manufacture, distribution, and sale of substances that are subject to drug prohibition laws.
Drug abuse in India
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
conducted a 'National Survey on Substance Use and Paradigm in India' through
the National Drug Dependency Treatment Center (NDDTC) of All India Institute of
Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
The report presents data on current use estimates
(use, harmful use and dependence within the last 12 months, for the following
categories of substances: Alcohol, Cannabis (cannabis and hemp / hashish), Opioids
(opium, heroin, and pharmaceutical opioids), Cocaine, Amphetamine Type
Stimulants (ATS), Sedatives, inhalants and Hallucinens.
Alcohol
- Nationally, about 14.6 percent of the people (between 10–75 years old) are current users of alcohol, i.e. around 16 crore people.
- Prevalence is 17 times more among men than women.
- Among those who consume alcohol in India, country liquor (Desi) (about 30 percent) and spirit (IMFL - Indian-made foreign liquor) (about 30 percent) are predominantly beverages.
- About 5.2 percent of Indians (more than 57 million people) are estimated to be affected by harmful or dependent alcohol use. In other words, every third wine user in India needs help with alcohol related problems.
- Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Punjab, Arunachal Pradesh and Goa are the states with the highest prevalence of alcohol consumption
- Tripura, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Arunachal Pradesh are the states with highest alcohol consumption (more than 10 percent)
Cannabis
- About 2.8 percent of Indians (3.1 crore individuals) reported using any cannabis product during the last 12 months (cannabis 2.2 crore people; Ganja / Charas - 13 million people).
- About 0.66 percent of Indians (or about 72 million people) require help with their cannabis problems. Although cannabis use is more common than hemp / hashish, the prevalence of harmful / dependent use is proportionately greater for hemp / hashish users.
- The states with higher prevalence of cannabis are Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Sikkim, Chhattisgarh and Delhi.
- In some states, prevalence of cannabis use disorders is significantly (more than three times) higher than the national average (eg Sikkim, Punjab).
Opioids
- Heroin is the most common opioid used is in India, (current use 1.14 percent) followed by pharmaceutical opioids (current use 0.96 percent) and then opium (current use 0.52 percent).
- More people are dependent on heroin than opium and pharmaceutical opioids.
- Only a few states account for more than half of the total (harmful or dependent pattern) opioid use in the country: Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.
- In terms of percentage of the population affected, the top states of the country are in the northeast (Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur) along with Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.
Sedatives and Inhalants
- 10-75 years age group (1.08%) Indians are current users of sedatives (non-medical, non-prescription use).
- The states with highest prevalence of current sedative use are Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram.
- Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat are the top five states in term of largest population of people using sedatives.
- Inhalants are the only category of substances for which prevalence of current use in children and adolescents is higher (1.17 percent) than in adults (0.58 percent).
- Nationally, an estimated 4.6 million children and 1.8 million adults need help with their inhalant use.
- Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi and Haryana are the states with high population of children needing help for inhalant use.
Cocaine, ATS and Hallucinogens
- Cocaine (0.10 percent), amphetamine-type stimulants (0.18 percent) and hallucinogens (0.12 percent) are the lowest prevalence classes of current use in India.
- Access to treatment services: In general, access to treatment services is grossly inadequate for people affected by substance use disorders.
- Only one in 38 people with an alcohol dependence report is receiving any treatment. Only one in 180 people with an alcohol dependence report hospitalized for help with alcohol problems.
- Health and social problems due to use and dependence of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit substances can be prevented by creating awareness by individuals, families, and communities to use public health actions.
National Program
e-health web-based programs
- Various e-health web-based programs related to substance abuse prevention such as alcohol e-help (alcoholwebindia.in/intervention), run by the National Drug Dependence Treatment Center (NDDTC), AIIMS, Delhi.
- m-Cessation program for tobacco prevention (nhp.gov.in/quit-tobacco) run by MoHFW, Government of India
National AIDS Control Program (NACP)
- MoHFW, GoI has implemented various targeted intervention programs for IDUs such as needle syringe program, Opioid replacement therapy.
- MSJE has prepared a Central Sector Plan for Social Defense Services to help prevent alcohol and drug (drug) misuse, which has been updated in 2015.
Department of Revenue, Central Government acts
- This act is for the prevention of traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 and the Prevention of Narcotics and Prevention of Narcotics Act, 1988.
- The Bureau of Narcotics Control, Ministry of Home Affairs acts as an enforcement agency for the NDPS Act.
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