Govt to mark International Day Against Drug Abuse with awareness campaigns

New Delhi, Jun 25 (PTI) The government will commemorate the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26 with a national-level event in Delhi, officials said on Wednesday.
    Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment B L Verma will attend as the chief guest, alongside senior ministry officials.
    In the run-up to the day, the government organised a series of awareness activities under its flagship Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan (NMBA), aimed at transforming the campaign into a Jan Andolan or people’s movement.
    The programme, which has been operational in all districts across India, targets the youth, especially in schools, colleges, and universities, to raise awareness about the harmful effects of substance abuse.
    According to an official statement by the ministry, over 15.78 crore people have been sensitised, so far, including more than 5.26 crore youth and 3.31 crore women.
    Around 4.31 lakh educational institutions have participated, while 20,000+ trained volunteers have been mobilised to implement grassroots-level initiatives.
    “Substance use disorder is a psycho-social-medical challenge that affects not only individuals but also their families and communities,” the ministry said in the statement.
    To boost outreach, the NMBA has launched a mobile application to enable real-time tracking of activities at both the district and state levels.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)