States including – Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Chattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh – have emerged as front runners in alcohol abuse and health complications arising due to the addition according to a survey conducted by the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC) of Delhi-All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

The survey, which has been submitted to the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on Monday further notes that a whopping 5.7 crore people in India suffer from alcohol related problems and need treatment. Also of the 16 crore people who consume alcohol across India, prevalence of alcohol consumption is 17 times higher among men than among women.

Over four lakh children and 1.8 million adults need help for inhalant abuse and dependence, said the survey. It was conducted to ascertain the magnitude of substance abuse in India and was carried out between Dec 2017-October 2018 and covered 473,569 individuals of 10-75 years.

High prevalence of consumption of alcohol has been reported in Tripura, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Arunachal Pradesh.

The survey also revealed that about 3.1 crore individuals consume cannabis while 72 lakh individuals need help for their cannabis use problems. States – Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Odisha have registered the maximum cannabis dependence. While the most common opioid used is Heroin. The current use of Heroin is 1.14%, followed by pharmaceutical opioids (current use 0.96%) and then opium (current use 0.52%). Here the abuse was found most prevalent in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana.

The Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment maintained that a national guideline will be formulated after detailed consultation with all stake holders to counter the drug menace in India.