Centre to SC: 1.48 crore children aged between 10 to 17 addicted to substances

A report from February 2019 revealed alcohol is the most common psychoactive substance followed by cannabis and opioids
Pic: EdexLive
Pic: EdexLive

Almost 1.48 crore children in India in the age bracket of 10 to 17 are addicted to various kinds of substances, said the Central Government to the Supreme Court. An affidavit by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment stated that it has conducted a comprehensive survey for the first time on the extent and pattern of substance abuse in India with the help of the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC) of AIIMS, New Delhi, during 2018, as reported by IANS.

In the compliance affidavit, the ministry said: "The report of the survey was released in February 2019. As per the report, alcohol is the most common psychoactive substance used by Indians followed by cannabis and opioids. About 16 crore persons consume alcohol in the country; more than 5.7 crore individuals are affected by harmful or dependent on alcohol use and need help for their alcohol use problems. 3.1 crore individuals use cannabis products; about 25 lakhs suffer from cannabis dependence". It also added that 2.26 crore people use opioids and approximately 77 lakh individuals require professional help for their opioid use problems. 

Aishwarya Bhati, Additional Solicitor General, who was representing the Centre contended before a two bench judge of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna that as per the 2016 verdict of the Supreme Court, the government conducted a national survey and completed the survey to generate the database on substance use in the country. 

The senior advocate representing NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan, HS Phoolka, submitted a petition stating that the government is not complying with the Supreme Court’s orders issued in the verdict in 2016 and he also added that the government has not covered all aspects mentioned in the national plan to fight against substance abuse. The bench questioned advocate Phoolka if he was aggrieved by the non-compliance order or if he wants something more to be done. He responded by saying that more aspects could have been covered in the national plan to curb substance abuse as reported by IANS.

The bench said it is tagging the matter with a suo moto case, a matter which is similar to some extent, and the Chief Justice’s court is hearing the matter. With the case being heard by the Chief Justice, Aishwarya Bhati has agreed that the matter can be tagged with the case. The affidavit said, “to address the problem of drug abuse among citizens of this country, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has formulated and implemented the National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR) under which the government is taking sustained and coordinated action for arresting the problem of substance abuse among the youth and women.” 

The affidavit added, “the prime objective of NAPDDR is to focus on preventive education, awareness generation, identification, counselling, treatment and rehabilitation of individuals with substance dependence, training and capacity building of service providers through collaborative efforts of the central and state governments and NGOs,” as reported by IANS. 

In another affidavit, the Ministry of Education said that they have taken steps to create awareness about substance abuse and specific content under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has been adopted in the school curriculum.

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