Maharashtra tops list of deaths due to drug abuse: Government

NEW DELHI: Abhishek Chaubey's 'Udta Punjab' may have stirred up a political controversy around drug problem in the election-bound state, but official data reveals Maharashtra tops in drug-related suicides. As per government's statistics, 3,647 suicides were reported in India due to drug abuse and addiction in 2014. Of these, Maharashtra reported 1,372, followed by 552 in Tamil Nadu, 475 in Kerala, and 305 in Madhya

Pradesh. Punjab reported 38 such deaths. The ministry of social justice and empowerment furnished the data in response to an unstarred question in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. The drug abuse and addiction suicides reported in 2012 were 4,008, which climbed up to 4,591 in 2013 and then fell by almost 21% in 2014.

Speaking to ET, minister of state for social justice and empowerment Vijay Sampla said: "These statistics clearly show the impression that drugs are prevalent in Punjab is misplaced. This is why our ministry had also rejected a pilot study conducted in Punjab.

The sample size taken for the study was very small. We are now getting an all-India survey conducted on prevalence of drugs in the country." Sampla explained that at present drug addiction related suicides are the only reliable all-India statistics to gauge the extent of drug problem in India. The last all-India survey on drug abuse was conducted in 2004.

"The all-India survey would give a well-rounded picture of drug addiction in India. It would even gauge the type of drugs prevalent," Sampla said. The survey would be conducted by the ministry in collaboration with AIIMS' National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre. The two-year-long survey will also map the presence of services and interventions for drug dependent individual and identify the gaps in service delivery.