Drug Addiction is emerging to be a serious concern, especially in the younger generation leading to dangerous consequences not just for the person using drugs, but on the family and society at large. Drug abuse has resulted in an increase in crime rate and had an overall detrimental impact on society. Prevention has proven to be the most effective strategy to counter this problem.

The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment is the nodal ministry for Drug Demand Reduction in the country and under its interventions it coordinates, implements and monitors several interventions like prevention, assessment of extent of the problem, treatment and rehabilitation of users, after care and follow up, dissemination of information among the public and generation of awareness in the community.

To assess and know the magnitude of the problem of substance use in the country, a national level survey called 'National Survey on Extant and Pattern of Substance Use' was conducted to ascertain the proportion of Indian population using various substances and those affected by substance use disorders.

To tackle the issue of Substance Abuse and a vision to make India Drug Free, Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (NMBA) was launched on 15th August 2020, in 272 Districts identified as most vulnerable in terms of usage of drugs in the country. These vulnerable districts were identified on the basis of findings from the Comprehensive National Survey and the inputs provided by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).