Use of various psychoactive substances has been observed in India for centuries. The just published report of a nationwide study on the “Magnitude of substance abuse in India, 2019” by the MoSJE, Government of India and the NDDTC, AIIMS, New Delhi has become an eye opener. As per of the report, too many people with problematic or dependence substance use such as 57 million alcoholics, 7.2 million cannabis users, 7.7 million opioid users and 2.2 million using other drugs like sedatives and inhalants need help. It is also alarming that an estimated 0.46 million children and 1.8 million adults need help for their harmful/dependence use of inhalants. It is estimated that there are about 0.85 million people who inject drugs (PWID).
