Lok Sabha Question No. 478 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-12-19
Subject: De-addiction Camps
Ministry: SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT
Asked by: BOORA NARSAIAH GOUD

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 478 TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.12.2017

## DE-ADDICTION CAMPS

## 478. DR. BOORA NARSAIAH GOUD:

## Will the Minister of SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT be pleased to state:

(a) whether de-addiction camps are being organized by the Government regularly;

(b) if so, the details and the number of beneficiaries from such camps during each of the last three years and the current year;

(c) the status of the National Toll free Drug de-Addiction Helpline; and

(d) the details of the number of victims of drug addiction in the country during the said period?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT (SHIR VIJAY SAMPLA)

(a) & (b): This Ministry implements a 'Central Sector Scheme of Assistance for Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance  (Drug)  Abuse'.  The  Scheme  has  the  provision  of  financial  assistance  to  Non-Governmental Organisations, Panchayati Raj Institutions, Urban Local Bodies etc. for, inter-alia, running and maintenance of Integrated  Rehabilitation  Centre  for  Addicts  (IRCAs)  and  to  provide  composite/  integrated  services  for  the rehabilitation of the addicts. These IRCAs are responsible for Preventive Education and Awareness Generation programmes  in  their  neighbourhood,  educational  institutions,  workplace  and  slums  with  the  purpose  of sensitising the community about the impact of addiction and the need to take professional help for treatment. Total  number  of  beneficiaries  under  the  scheme  for  the  year  2014-15,2015-16,2016-17&  2017-18(upto 13.12.2017) are 108855, 146124, 114759 & 65682 respectively.

(c):  This  Ministry  has  setup  a  National  Toll  Free  Drug  de-addiction  Helpline  No.  1800-11-0031  w.e.f.  7 th January,  2015  to  help  the  victims  of  drug  abuse,  their  family  &  society  at  large.  The  helpline  has  become operational  24x7 since March, 2017.

(d): The last National Survey on the extent, pattern and trend of drug abuse was sponsored by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in the year 2000-2001 and its report was published in 2004. It was estimated that about 732 lakh persons in India were users of alcohol and drugs. Of these 87 lakh used Cannabis, 20 lakh used opiates and 625 lakh were users of Alcohol. However, the sample size being small (40,697 males within the age group of 12-16 years both in rural and urban areas) vis-à-vis the country's population, the estimates can at best be taken as indicative only.

Thereafter, no National Survey on drug abuse was conducted. However, the Ministry has, in the month of August, 2016, assigned the work of conducting the National Survey on Extent and Pattern of Substance Use in  India  to  National  Drug  Dependence  Treatment  Centre  (NDDTC),  All  India  Institute  of  Medical  Sciences (AIIMS),  New  Delhi.  The  survey  will  provide  national  and  State-level  estimates  of  proportion  and  absolute number of people who use various substances and people who are suffering from substance use disorders.

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