Drug addiction affects a person’s thinking, judgemental senses and causes severe health issues. In fact, thousands of people lose their lives yearly due to drug overdose in India.
While most people in India have general awareness about alcohol or cocaine addiction causing severe life threats, still millions of people in India underestimate the risk and end up losing their lives.
To reveal the true extent of damage caused due to drug addiction, Helplocal has rounded up the top drug addiction facts in India describing the adverse effect of drug addiction.
Top Drug addiction fact in India
Read on and discover the top drug addiction facts explaining how devastating it is if the right recovery steps are not taken timely.
- According to a drug abuse study conducted by the Government of Punjab in 2015, nearly 2,40,000 people were addicted to drugs in Punjab. This explains that there are 850 drug users per 100,000 in the state presently and 250 per 100,000 all across India, according to the ministry of social justice and empowerment. These stats of 250 drug users per 100,000 is very high when compared to other countries.
- According to the National Survey on Extent and Pattern of Substance Use in India in 2019, about 2.1% of India’s population consumes opioids which includes illegal heroin and synthetic opioids like pain relief available legally by prescription.
- According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, opioid-involved overdose deaths have risen significantly from 46,800 deaths in 2018 to 49,890 deaths in 2019.
- The national survey of 2019 also showed that about 2.8% of Indians aged from 10-75 are using cannabis such as bhang, charas, ganja. Out of which, 72 lakh people have an addiction to cannabis.
- According to a report by AIIMS, nearly 60 million Indians are addicted to alcohol. And the alarming conclusion drawn from the study explains that nearly 16% – which is around 1.6 billion of the country’s population- is falling under drinking habits before the legal drinking age.
- The major concern is the number of suicides caused due to drug abuse and alcohol addiction has doubled as compared to the last decade. In the year 2010, 3,343 cases of suicides were reported, but the number increased to 7,860 suicides in 2019.
- Currently, there are 1.18 crore people who use sedatives and inhalants on a regular basis. The prevalence of inhalants use is higher among children and adolescents as compared to adults.
- Approximately 4.5 lakh children and 18 lakh adults need help as a result of excessive use of inhalants.
Drug addiction in India- support NGOs
Drug addiction not only affects the abuser but also impacts their beloved ones. The family members have to experience mental stress and undergo huge financial burdens affecting their entire life and end up getting depressed. If someone in your connection is addicted to drugs whose life is getting out of control and needs professional help to recover. Connect with NGOs contributing and strengthening the fight against drug addiction.
If you wish to make a positive change in society through individual or collaborative effort. Volunteer with or donate in any form to non-profit organizations working to curb drug addiction and helping addicts rebuild their lives.
Visit Helplocal.in to connect with NGOs working for various social causes in India.
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