The upcoming round of the Union government’s National Drug Use Survey (NDUS) will be conducted through 2026 and is expected to cover nearly 20 lakh individuals across the country to assess the extent and patterns of substance use and substance use disorders at the State and district levels, officials told The Hindu on Wednesday.
For the first time, the survey will seek to document “indigenous forms of substance use and associated socio-economic and health concerns”. Officials said there are several instances of communities in India using locally grown or prepared substances “with social sanction and ritualistic acceptance”.
They added that the question of whether such use is as harmful as contemporary patterns of substance use is “worth exploring”, noting that these substances may include various forms of alcoholic beverages, opium, and cannabis. “Some observations suggest that such socially sanctioned use, which has continued for centuries, does not necessarily lead to addiction. This is something that needs closer examination,” an official said.
The forthcoming survey will take place nearly a decade after the previous round conducted in 2017-18, which covered about five lakh individuals nationwide. The 2019 report had estimated that alcohol was the most commonly used substance, with more than 15 crore users, including around 30 lakh minors aged between 10 and 17 years. This was followed by cannabis, opioids, sedatives, inhalants, cocaine, amphetamine-type stimulants, and hallucinogens.
