Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment which is the Nodal Ministry for Drug Demand Reduction has formulated and launched Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (NMBA) on 15th August 2020. It is a nationwide campaign addressing substance abuse through prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation. Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan initially focused on 272 most affected districts, 372 districts in 2022-23 and further, it was expanded in all the districts in 2023-24. Extent and Pattern of Substance Use in India The Ministry has conducted the first National Survey on Extent and Pattern of Substance Use in India through the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC) of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi during 2018. As per the report, Alcohol is the most common psychoactive substance used by Indians followed by Cannabis and Opioids. About 16 Crore persons consume alcohol in the country; more than 5.7 Crore individuals are affected by harmful or dependent alcohol use and need help for their alcohol use problems 3.1 Crore individuals use cannabis products; about 25 lakh suffer from cannabis dependence 2.26 Crore use opioids; approximately 77 lakh individuals are required help for their opioid use problems Objectives Preventive education, awareness generation, identification, counselling, treatment, and rehabilitation of individuals with substance dependence, training, and capacity building of the service providers Create awareness and educate people about the ill-effects of substance dependence on the individual, family, workplace, and society at large and reduce stigmatisation and discrimination against groups and individuals dependent on substances to integrate them back into society. Develop human resources and build capacity for providing community-based services; formulate and implement comprehensive guidelines, schemes, and programmes; undertake drug demand reduction efforts; and facilitate research, training, documentation, and innovation. Components The Action Plan has the following components: Awareness generation programmes Focus on higher educational Institutions, university campuses and schools Reaching out into the Community and identifying dependent population Focus on counseling and treatment facilities in hospitals and rehabilitation centres which have been geo-tagged Capacity building programmes for a service providers NMBA implementation protocol The Ministry has also set up a 24x7 National Toll Free drug de-addiction helpline number 14446 to help the victims of drug abuse, their family and society at large. To view more details, click here. GEO Tagged De-addiction Facilities Source : Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment