Study of drug abuse to formulate schemes for its prevention

The Centre is contemplating conducting a "pilot study" of the patterns and trends of narcotic substance abuse in the country with an objective of getting "feasible statistics" for formulating "more effective" schemes for its prevention.

The Centre is contemplating conducting a "pilot study" of the patterns and trends of narcotic substance abuse in the country with an objective of getting "feasible statistics" for formulating "more effective" schemes for its prevention.

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Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is planning to get the study done by the National Sample Survey of India (NSSI), an official said.

"The plan to conduct the study is in a very initial stage but it will soon be operationalised. A pilot study is a small experiment designed to test logistics and gather information prior to a larger study in order to improve the latter's quality and efficiency," a senior official of the ministry told PTI.

As per the plan, NSSI will conduct a "house hold survey" through a "pilot study" programme. Though it will not give an exact scenario of the drug and narcotic substance abuse in the country, it will definitely provide a "broad idea" of its patterns, trends and various other aspects useful for policy design, Deputy Director, National Institute of Social Defence (NISD) M Sunil Kumar said.

"An extensive study may further be conducted across the country on the subject, if findings of the NSSI survey is found feasible," he added.

The idea behind getting the study done is to bring more effective schemes and programmes for the prevention of drugs and narcotics substance abuse in the country, Kumar said.

"We had a study done a few years ago. Now, we want to revalidate and authenticate the data and statistics through a government agency," he said.