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India has medicines used to treat addiction, including opioid dependence, but access to treatment depends on more than whether a medicine exists. Navin Saxena, chairman of Rusan Pharma, argues that trained clinicians, affordable care and services close to where people live are still needed—and calls for stronger public commitment and cooperation between government hospitals and private providers. These are his policy views, not a description of services available everywhere.
What the evidence says about need
The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment says the 2018 National Survey on Extent and Pattern of Substance Use in India was conducted through AIIMS’s National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre and released in February 2019. It estimated that approximately 77 lakh people needed help for opioid use problems and more than 5.7 crore people had harmful or dependent alcohol use. These are estimates from that survey, not current-year counts.
Saxen’s article also cites 26.7 crore adult tobacco users. That figure is attributed here to the article; the ministry material cited below does not independently confirm it.
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Medicines such as buprenorphine can be part of treatment for opioid dependence, but a medicine alone does not create a treatment pathway. People also need access to clinicians trained to provide care, an affordable service they can reach, and continuity rather than a one-off encounter. Saxen’s central argument is that India has treatment medicines but has not made care sufficiently accessible.
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The gap matters most where a person cannot readily reach a trained provider or sustain treatment. Saxen uses a Punjab scenario to illustrate the problem; it should be read as an illustration in his argument, not as an independently documented patient case.
What the current public response includes
The Government of India says the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan launched in 272 vulnerable districts on August 15, 2020, and expanded to all districts from August 2023. The ministry describes the broader National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction as covering awareness, counselling, treatment, rehabilitation and capacity building.
Facilities named in the ministry’s description include Integrated Rehabilitation Centres for Addicts, Addiction Treatment Facilities and District De-Addiction Centres. The ministry also lists the national toll-free drug-de-addiction helpline, 14446. Local services and availability can change, so people seeking help should confirm current options through official channels.
What Saxen says needs to change
Saxen argues for a system that makes treatment more reachable and sustainable. His proposals can be understood across four connected policy questions:
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- Reach: Can people find a service close enough to use, including outside major urban centres?
- Clinical capacity: Are trained clinicians available to assess people and provide appropriate treatment?
- Affordability and continuity: Can people access care at a cost they can manage and remain connected to it?
- Delivery: Can government hospitals and private partners share responsibility for expanding access?
These are recommendations in Saxen’s opinion article, not evidence that every district currently offers those services or that a particular delivery model has been proven superior.
How to interpret the article’s coverage figures and target
Saxen reports that about 54,000 people received opioid substitution therapy in 2023–24 and compares that figure with a broader coverage benchmark. The count and comparison were not independently confirmed in the official sources reviewed, so they should be treated as figures reported by the article rather than verified national coverage data.
The article also says a Centre plan would increase de-addiction centres to 1,751 by 2029. The material available does not establish that this target has been formally adopted, funded or implemented. It is therefore best understood as a target reported by Saxen, not a confirmed commitment or current service count.
The question behind “the will”
Saxen’s phrase, “Addiction deserves the same political will,” is a call for sustained attention to treatment access. The practical test is whether policy and funding translate into trained local care, affordability and follow-up—not simply whether treatment medicines exist. For people seeking support now, the government-listed helpline is 14446; treatment should be arranged through qualified services rather than attempted through self-medication.
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