National drug survey to study indigenous substance use patterns this year

The upcoming round of the Union government’s National Drug Use Survey (NDUS) will be conducted through 2026 and is expected to cover nearly 20 lakh individuals across the country to assess the extent and patterns of substance use and substance use disorders at the State and district levels, officials told The Hindu on Wednesday.

For the first time, the survey will seek to document “indigenous forms of substance use and associated socio-economic and health concerns”. Officials said there are several instances of communities in India using locally grown or prepared substances “with social sanction and ritualistic acceptance”.

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They added that the question of whether such use is as harmful as contemporary patterns of substance use is “worth exploring”, noting that these substances may include various forms of alcoholic beverages, opium, and cannabis. “Some observations suggest that such socially sanctioned use, which has continued for centuries, may not necessarily lead to addiction. This is something that needs closer examination,” an official said.

The forthcoming survey will take place nearly a decade after the previous round conducted in 2017-18, which covered about five lakh individuals nationwide. The 2019 report had estimated that alcohol was the most commonly used substance, with more than 15 crore users, including around 30 lakh minors aged between 10 and 17 years. This was followed by cannabis, opioids, sedatives, inhalants, cocaine, amphetamine-type stimulants, and hallucinogens.

While the new round will continue to assess the prevalence and patterns of use of these substances, the 2025-26 survey will, for the first time, attempt detailed analyses of substance use among specific populations such as prison inmates, school students and those enrolled in colleges and other higher education institutions.

The previous survey had attempted similar analyses, but these were not possible as such populations were “not adequately covered” in the 2019 exercise.

The upcoming round will also include studies on the feasibility of wastewater testing to assess community-level drug use, and will examine emerging trends related to the use of “new and rarer” psychoactive substances.

Highlighting the need for a more comprehensive assessment, the official website of the NDUS 2025-26 noted that “drug use is dynamic”, adding that “patterns of drug use may change rapidly”, particularly in the period following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The survey is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026, with findings expected to be published in 2027. Funded by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, it is being conducted by the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

The sample will be drawn through two methods: a household survey and a respondent-driven sampling survey. The household survey will cover 400 districts across all States and Union Territories and include men and women aged 10 to 75 years, covering about 4.4 lakh households and 17.6 lakh individuals.

In addition, respondent-driven sampling will include around 2.1 lakh individuals drawn from drug-dependent populations in approximately 350 districts across the country. Taken together, the two components will result in a total sample size of about 19.7 lakh individuals.

The survey will also assess the impact of interventions such as the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan, which was informed by findings from the 2019 survey, and is expected to generate policy recommendations for national and State-level efforts aimed at reducing drug demand and substance-related harm.