India has widespread drug problem, report says

Millions of Indians are dependent on alcohol, cannabis, and opiates, and drug misuse is a pervasive phenomenon in Indian society, says a new report, published jointly by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and India's Ministry of Social Justice.

The report was completed more than 18 months ago but was only recently published because its findings were not acceptable to the government of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was in power until May this year.

“They [the previous government] did not want to admit the magnitude of the problem indicated by the national household survey and that this …