Call for identifying drug-affected districts in Meghalaya

A national survey that identified 11,420 injecting drug users in Meghalaya has strongly recommended the need to conduct state-level surveys to identify priority districts for countering drug abuse.

According to the report, there are an estimated 8.5 lakh people who inject drugs (PWID) across the nation, of whom 11,420 are in Meghalaya.

The survey was conducted last year among 4.73 lakh individuals in 186 districts across the country by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in collaboration with the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC) and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.

High numbers of PWIDs were found in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur and Nagaland.

However, the NDDTC report recommended state-level surveys as identifying more-affected districts in Meghalaya was beyond their mandate.

"For this purpose, state-level surveys will have to be conducted which can