It is ironic for a dry state but data tabled in Rajya Sabha recently indicated that about 4.3% of the population of Gujarat accounting to about 19.53 lakh persons are addicted toalcohol.The data, shared by A Narayanaswamy, MoS (social justice & empowerment), cited the figures collected during National Drug Use Survey 2019 by AIIMS.

According to the data, 4.3% of people in Gujarat had alcohol dependence. This is even higher than Rajasthan’s 2.3%, Bihar’s 1% and Jammu & Kashmirs 4%. The national Average however was 17.1%, mentioned in the answer.

The answer also said about 1.46% of the Population of Gujarat (6.64 lakh) was addicted to opioids, 1.38% to sedatives (6.28 lakh) and 0.8% to cannabis (3.64 lakh). Moreover, 36,000 (0.08%) were addicted to inhalants.

In all, the survey pointed at about 8% of the total population (about 36.5 lakh) addicted to either alcohol or drugs. The survey did not include tobacco dependency.