An Overview: Prevalence of Cannabis Abuse in India

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Substance abuse refers to the harmful orhazardous use of psychoactive substances. It is one of thetop problems confronting the world today especially amongthe youth. Abuse of Cannabis is also a big problem facedby India. In India, Cannabis is used as Bhang which is legalin many states and as Charasand Ganja which are illegal asper the International drug conventions as well as the Indianlaw (NDPS Act, 1985). Cannabis users are at high risk ofdeveloping cannabis use disorder which is a problematicpattern of cannabis use leading to clinically significantimpairment or distress.Material and Methods: This systematic review wasconducted according to the guidelines. The systematic searchof electronic databases PubMed and Google Scholar weresearched from 15 September to 15 November 2019. In total25 articles were found meeting the search title, further hospitaland de-addiction center based studies were not taken underconsideration. After applying the inclusion and exclusioncriteria total 5 studies were selected for the systematic review.Results: The pooled prevalence of overall substance useand Cannabis use among the study population of includedstudies came out to be 35.77% and 6.76% respectively. Theparticipants were from less than 10years to greater than to65years in their age groups.Conclusion: India has a huge “at risk” population vulnerableto cannabis abuse. Various surveys conducted from time totime regarding cannabis use among population can provideuseful information about the extent and pattern of cannabisuse.