International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

The number of current user of inhalants is higher in teenagers than adults

At the national level, about 14.6 pc of Indian people (among 10-75 year old) are current users of alcohol,which is about 0.16 billion people. Prevalence is 17 times higher among men than women.

The International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is annually observed on June 26 and is also known as World Drug Day. The theme for this year is “Health for Justice. Justice for Health.” It highlights the fact that justice and health are two sides of the same coin when it comes to addressing drug problems. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC) feels that effective responses to the world drug problem requires inclusive and accountable institutions of criminal justice, health and social services to work hand in hand to provide integrated solutions, in line with the international drug control conventions, human rights obligations and the sustainable development goals.

Addiction is a psychological and social problem of depending on chemicals, drugs, activity or substance which causes both physical and psychiatric harm to the person as well as people around them. Addiction is of many kinds- drugs, alcohol, gambling and such. Drug abuse or addiction may correctly be referred to as slow poison. There are some naturally obtained drugs like opium from opium plant, cocaine from chocolate tree seeds and ganja or charas from cannabis plant while rest of them are made from human-made chemicals.

Drug addiction is harmful and dangerous for health and is restricted in most of the countries around the world, but people still illegally buy and sell them. Drug trafficking is a declared international illegal trade that involves the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of substances which are prohibited under drug prohibition law.

Situation in India

According to a major report by National Drug Dependent Treatment Centre (NDDTC) under All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) revealed that an estimated 57 millions are affected by alcohol addiction while 7.2 million are addicted to cannabis locally known as charas, ganja or bhang. The study titled ‘Magnitude of Substance Use in India’ was conducted across the country interviewing a total of 4,73,569 people in the age group of 10-75.

The survey also highlighted the fact that the number of heroin consumers has also increased in India to 1.14 pc from 0.2 pc recorded in the last survey published in 2004. Alcohol addiction among underage youth is also an area of concern. Another frightening fact is the prevalence of current use of inhalants among children and adolescents is higher (1.17 pc) than adults (0.58 pc).

In a state-wise statistics on substance abuse according to the report, Punjab, Goa, Tripura, Chhattisgarh and Arunachal Pradesh are the most dependent on alcohol use while cannabis use is higher in Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Punjab and Delhi.

Steps taken to curb this problem

Indian government has taken steps to stop the illicit drug trafficking across India. They have even taken initiatives to conduct events for the day to spread awareness. The police in the north-Indian state of Haryana has organised a coordination meeting of police chiefs of seven north-Indian states and union territory of Chandigarh to discuss about the strategies for fighting drug abuse and illicit trafficking fight.

East-Indian state West Bengal’s capital Kolkata has its police department taking an active part in observing the day. They have also arranged a competition on social media to involve the common people where they can share their pictures and videos of any activity such as dancing, reading, sleeping, playing or laughing, put it up on social media handles like facebook, twitter or instagram with caption—“SAY YES TO (the activity that is in the picture); SAY NO TO DRUGS” along with hashtags like #kolkatapolice and #unitedagainstdrugs. The three most innovative pictures would be felicitated by the Kolkata Police.

The Kolkata Police’s last year’s initiative ‘Shuddhi’ identifies people who are into petty crimes due to their dependence on drugs and provides them rehabilitation. 21 of its candidates were felicitated on June 24 for leading a drug free life for more than one year. This crowd-funded initiative now has 133 candidates who are working on getting back to normal flow of life.

Jammu and Kashmir (north India) observed the day on June 22 with a mass awareness rally by the Food and Drug Administration to highlight the effects of drug addiction and spread the message about the cultural and economic harm of illicit drug use. An anti-drug programme was launched by Ernakulam District Mental Health authorities at Borstal school in Kochi, a city in South-Indian state of Kerala. The programme organised jointly by District Medical office, National Health Mission and Ernakulam District Jail had a seminar, screening, medical support for needy and counselling as part of the programme.