(Video) Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV) The Big Picture: Fighting Drug Menace

Topic: Fighting Drug Menace

Guest:

Dr. Vikram Singh, (Former Director General of Police, Uttar Pradesh)
Aditi Tandon, (Special Correspondent, The Tribune)
Smita Deshpande, (Professor of Psychiatry, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital)
V. Rajyalakshmi, (Sociologist, Janki Devi Memorial College, Delhi University)

Topic Description:

The is observed annually on 26 June. The decision to mark the day was taken on 7 December 1987 through a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly in order to strengthen global action and cooperation to achieve its aim of making the international society free of drug abuse. This year’s theme ‘Health for Justice, Justice for Health’ emphasises that justice and health are “two sides of the same coin” when it comes to addressing the problems associated with drugs. In February 2019, AIIMS submitted its report “Magnitude of Substance Use in India” that was sponsored by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The study found that around 5 crore Indians reported to have used cannabis and opiods at the time of the survey. About 60 lakh people are estimated to need help for their opioid use problems and nationally, it is estimated that there are about 8.5 lakh people who inject drugs. Of the total cases estimated by the report, more than half of them are contributed by states like Assam, Delhi, Haryana, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh. Punjab ranks consistently at the top or in the top five in many of the surveys conducted.