INTRODUCTION:

Major findings of this Survey at the National level as well as at the State level are as follows:

A. Alcohol:

i. At the national level, about 14.6% of people (among 10-75 year old) are current users of alcohol, i.e. about 16 Crore people. Prevalence is 17 times higher among men than women.

ii. Among people consuming alcohol in India, Country liquor ('desi') (about 30%) and spirits (IMFL - Indian Made Foreign Liquor) (about 30%) are the predominantly consumed beverages.

iii. About 5.2% of Indians (more than 5.7 crore people) are estimated to be affected by harmful or dependent alcohol use. In other words, every third alcohol user in India needs help for alcohol related problems.

iv. States with the high prevalence of alcohol use are Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Punjab, Arunachal Pradesh and Goa.

v. States with high prevalence (more than 10%) of alcohol use disorders are: Tripura, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, and Arunachal Pradesh.

b) Cannabis :

i. About 2.8% of Indians (3.1 Crore individuals) report having used any cannabis product within past 12 months (Bhang 2% or 2.2 crore people; Ganja/Charas - 1.2% or 1.3 Crore people).

ii. About 0.66% of Indian (or approximately 72 lakh individuals) need help for their cannabis use problems.

iii. Though bhang use is more common than ganja/charas, prevalence of harmful/dependent use is proportionately higher for ganja/charas users.

iv. States with the higher than national prevalence of cannabis use are Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Sikkim, Chhattisgarh and Delhi.

v. In some states the prevalence of cannabis use disorders is considerably higher (more than thrice) than the national average (e.g. Sikkim, Punjab).

(c) Opioids:

i. At the national level, the most common opioid used is Heroin, (current use 1.14%) followed by Pharmaceutical opioids (current use 0.96%) and then Opium (current use 0.52%).

ii. Prevalence of current use of opioids, overall is 2.06% and about 0.55% of Indians are estimated to need help for their opioid use problems (harmful use and dependence). More people are dependent upon Heroin than Opium and Pharmaceutical Opioids.

iii. Of the total estimated approximately 60 lakh people with opioid use disorders (harmful or dependent pattern) in the country, more than half are contributed by just a few states: Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.

iv. In terms of percentage of population affected, the top states in the country are those in the north east (Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur) along with Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.

d) Sedatives and Inhalants:

i. About 1.08% of 10-75 year old Indians (approximately 1.18 crore people) are current users of sedatives (non-medical, non-prescription use).

ii. States with the highest prevalence of current Sedative use are Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. However, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat are the top five states which house the largest populations of people using sedatives.

iii. Inhalants are the only category of substances for which the prevalence of current use among children and adolescents is higher (1.17%) than adults (0.58%).

iv. At the national level, an estimated 4.6 lakh children and 18 lakh adults need help for their inhalant use (harmful use / dependence).

v. In terms of absolute numbers, states with high population of children needing help for inhalant use are: Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi and Haryana.

(e) Cocaine (0.10%) Amphetamine Type Stimulants (0.18%) and Hallucinogens (0.12%) are the categories with lowest prevalence of current use in India.

(f) Nationally, it is estimated that there are about 8.5 Lakh People Who Inject Drugs (PWID). High numbers of PWID are estimated in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur and Nagaland. Opioid group of drugs are predominantly injected by PWID (heroin - 46% and pharmaceutical opioids - 46%). A substantial proportion of PWID report risky injecting practices.

Access to treatment Services: In general, access to treatment services for people affected by substance use disorders is grossly inadequate. Just about one in 38 people with alcohol dependence report getting any treatment. Only about one in 180 people with alcohol dependence report getting inpatient treatment / hospitalization for help with alcohol problems. Among people suffering from dependence on illicit drugs, one among 20 people has ever received inpatient treatment/ hospitalization for help with drug problems.

Share of alcohol users across India between December 2017 and October 2018, by state

Chhattisgarh	-	35%
Tripura	-	34.40%
Punjab	-	28.50%
Arunachal Pradesh	-	28%
Goa	-	26.40%
Andaman and Nicobar islands	-	25.40%
Utter Pradesh	-	23.80%
Manipur	-	22.40%
Haryana	-	21.60%
Delhi	-	21.30%
Uttarakhand	-	18.80%
Daman and Diu	-	18.30%
Madhya Pradesh	-	17.70%
Chandigarh	-	17.50%
Telangana	-	16.80%
West Bengal	-	16.70%
Odisha	-	16.40%
Sikkim	-	15.70%
National Average	-	14.60%
Tamil Nadu	-	14.20%
Andhra Pradesh	-	13.70%
Kerala	-	12.40%
Dadra and Nagar Haveli	-	11.60%
Puducherry	-	9.50%
Himachal Pradesh	-	8.90%
Assam	-	8.80%
Nagaland	-	8.10%
Mizoram	-	7.80%
Jharkhand	-	6.50%
Karnataka	-	6.40%
Maharashtra	-	5.70%
Gujarat	-	3.90%
Jammu and Kashmir	-	3.50%
Meghalaya	-	3.40%
Rajasthan	-	2.10%
Bihar	-	0.90%
Lakshadweep	-	0.20%

CONCLUSIONS:

The developing world has made tremendous social progress during the past 30 years: "Infant mortality rates have been cut in half, total fertility rates have been lowered by 40 percent, and life expectancy has increased by nearly a decade ..." (1, p. 242). However, enormous variation exists across countries and clearly basic problems still plague a majority of the world's people. While progress in social and economic development has been slow but positive, the opposite has occurred with problems related to drug abuse and addictive disorders. Their number and complexity have increased many times, and information about their distribution and impact is no more complete today than it was decades ago.

Over the last 30 years, awareness of illicit drugs, access to them and their abuse have dramatically increased. Despite major gaps in information, increases in the abuse of major dependence producing drugs are reflected in reports from official and unofficial sources. Reports from the United Nations, observations of experts, studies of crime, education, work and health - all point to serious problems in developing and industrialized countries. Although systematic quantification of problems is not available, there is general agreement that populations at highest risk are those in the age range most needed for productive work. Other groups of people, however, are involved in substance abuse, such as street children in developing countries as well as youth elsewhere who misuse volatile solvents, thinners and marijuana.

Reports from the United Nations and other sources indicate increases in drug abuse and harmful consequences in most parts of the world. Substance-related deaths have been estimated at nearly 5 million annually for alcohol and tobacco (2, p. v) and 200,000 annually for injecting drug abusers (3, p. 4). Life years lost through disability related to drug dependence have been estimated for 1990 at 39.3 million years worldwide for males and 13.3 million years for females (4, p. 219). Aggregate worldwide estimates of the burden of drug-related diseases, lost job time and the costs of other associated conditions are not available. Due to the fact that many drug-impacted conditions were not included in this brief compilation, it is clear that figures cited here for mortality, morbidity, disability or impairment are not only incomplete but are also underestimates of the real impact of addictive disorders.

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Received on 15.11.2021 Modified on 08.12.2021

Int. J. Rev. and Res. Social Sci. 2021; 9(4):153-156.