Substance use disorder is an issue which is adversely affecting the social fabric of the country. Dependence to any substance not only affects the individual’s health but also disrupts their families and the whole society. Regular consumption of various psychoactive substances leads to dependence of the individual. Some substance compounds may lead to neuro-psychiatric disorders, cardiovascular diseases, as well as accidents, suicides and violence. Therefore, substance use and dependence needs to be viewed as a psycho-social-medical problem.

As per report of  first comprehensive national Survey on extent and pattern of substance use in India conducted by department of social justice & empowerment through national drug dependence treatment centre (nddtc), AIIMS, New Delhi, alcohol is the most common  psychoactive substance used by Indians followed by cannabis and opioids.

To curb the menace of drug demand, the ministry of social justice and empowerment (mosje), government  of India has been implementing national action plan for drug demand reduction (napddr) which is an umbrella scheme under which financial  assistance is provided to state Governments/ union territory (ut) administrations for preventive education and awareness generation, capacity  building, skill development, vocational training and livelihood support of ex-drug addicts, programmes for drug demand reduction by states/uts  etc.  And  ngos/vos  for  running and maintenance of integrated rehabilitation centers for addicts  (lrcas),  community based peer led intervention (cpli) for early drug use prevention among adolescents and outreach and drop in centers (odic) and district de-addiction centers (ddacs) in the identified districts and addiction treatment facilities (atfs) in government hospitals'.

Further, the ministry has initiated ambitious Nasha mukt bharat abhiyaan (NMBA) currently operational across the country with an aim to create awareness about ill effects of substance abuse among the youth, with special focus on higher education institutes, university campuses, schools and reaching out into the community and garnering community involvement and ownership of the abhiyaan.

 Meanwhile NMBA is playing crucial role to overcome form this addiction. Till now Nasha Mukt  Bharat Abhiyaan (NMBA) through the various activities undertaken on-ground 10.61+ crore people reached out so far. 8,000 master volunteers have been selected and trained to lead the abhiyaan activities in identified districts.More than 3.36+ crore youth have actively participated in the activities of the abhiyaan and spreading on-ground the message against substance use. Around 4,000+ yuva mandals, nyks & nss volunteers, youth clubs have also been associated with the abhiyaan. The contribution of 2.24+ crore women have also been vital in reaching out to a larger community through the anganwadi & asha workers, anms, mahila mandals & women SHGs.

Technology and social media have been effectively utilized to spread the message of the abhiyaan online by creating handles on facebook, twitter & instagram and sharing daily updates on them. An android based mobile application has been developed to capture the data of activities happening on ground on a real- time basis by the districts and master volunteers. This app has been placed on the Google play store. All the de-addiction facilities have been geo-tagged for ease of access by the public.

 A special initiative under the NMBA is association of religious/spiritual Organizations for carrying out various activities under NMBA and to spread the message of NMBA under their banner. Taking a step in this direction, department of social justice & empowerment is entering into an MoU with the Gayatri parivar for spreading the message of   NMBA among the youth, women, students etc. The ceremony will be held in Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, 15 Janpath, New Delhi on 22nd September,2023 at 09:00am in  the Presence  of Dr. Virendra kumar, Union Minister of Scoial Justice & Empowerment, Senior Officers of the department and senior members of the Gayatri parivar management.

 With the signing of this MoU, department of social justice & empowerment feels that implementation of NMBA will get a boost towards achieving drug sensitized India.

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MG/PD