Context: Recently, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment informed Lok Sabha about the National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR).

• The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has formulated a National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR) for 2018-2025.
• The Plan aims at reduction of adverse consequences of substance (drug) abuse through a multi-pronged strategy.
• The activities under the NAPDDR, inter-alia, include awareness generation programmes in schools/colleges/Universities, community based peerled intervention programmes for vulnerable adolescent and youth in the community, provisioning of treatment facilities and capacity building of service providers.
• The Ministry is also providing central assistance for running and maintenance for Integrated Rehabilitation Centres for Addicts (IRCAs). 

Objectives of NAPDDR

• Create awareness and educate people about the ill-effects of drugs abuse on the individual, family, workplace and the society at large.
• Reduce stigmatization of and discrimination against, groups and individuals dependent on drugs in order to integrate them back into the society;
• Develop human resources and build capacity for working towards these objectives;
• Facilitate research, training, documentation, innovation and collection of relevant information to strengthen the above mentioned objectives;
• Provide for a whole range of community based services for the identification, motivation, counselling, de-addiction, after care and rehabilitation for Whole Person Recovery (WPR) of addicts;
• Formulate and implement comprehensive guidelines, schemes, and programmes using a multiagency approach for drug demand reduction;
• Undertake drug demand reduction efforts to address all forms of drug abuse;
• Alleviate the consequences of drug dependence amongst individuals, family and society at large.

Implementation agency

• The National Institute of Social Defence (NISD), New Delhi, an autonomous body under the administrative control of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, is the nodal training and research Institute for interventions in the area of Social Defence.

Key Fact

• Alcohol is the most common psychoactive substance used by Indians. After Alcohol, Cannabis and Opioids are the next commonly used substances in India.
• The Golden Triangle is the area where the borders of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet at the confluence of the Ruak and Mekong rivers. It is famous for opium-producing areas.

Constitutional Provision: Article 47 of the Constitution provides that "The State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties and, in particular, the State shall endeavor to bring about prohibition of the consumption except for medicinal purposes of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health."
International Treaty: India is a signatory to the three UN Conventions namely, Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961, Convention on Psychotropic Substances, 1971 and Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, 1988.