NEW DELHI: The Centre is taking a slew of measures as part of its war against drug abuse by students. In this series, a survey was undertaken by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, making clear the magnitude and patterns of substance consumption by school and college students throughout India.
The study, conducted from 2018 to 2019 as part of a countrywide endeavour, studied substance use among students at 10 sites all over the country.
Based on the results of a sample consisting of 5,920 schoolchildren, 2 percent said they had used cannabis in the past year, and 2.8 percent said they had used opioids. Among university students, drug usage was higher, with 6.3 percent saying they used charas or ganja, 1.6 percent pharmaceutical opioids, and lower percentages for heroin, cocaine, sedatives, and hallucinogens.
To counter this, the ministry has actively been working in accordance with the National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR). Several measures have been undertaken under the programme to educate, treat, and assist young people and school students in this regard.
One of the main schemes under this policy is the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (NMBA), which was initiated on August 15, 2020. It initially targeted 272 vulnerable districts but has now been implemented in all districts in the country.
The campaign aims at creating awareness, especially in schools and colleges, detecting people who are addicted to substances, and offering counselling and treatment facilities.
Until now, NMBA has touched over 14.79 crore individuals, including close to 5 crore youth and 3 crore women.