The average age of consumption of these harmful substances has been found to be around 13 years, indicating the need for early intervention right from the primary school level.

The findings of the study also revealed that drug abuse increases as students move to higher classes. Drug abuse by class 11th and 12th students is twice that of class 8th students.

Students from which cities were included in the survey?

This study, conducted under the leadership of Dr. Anju Dhawan of the National De-addiction Treatment Center of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, has been published in the 'National Medical Journal of India' this month. In this study, drug consumption by teenagers in different areas has been analyzed. The survey included 5,920 students from Chandigarh, Delhi, Jammu, Lucknow, Bengaluru, Dibrugarh, Hyderabad, Imphal, Mumbai and Ranchi.

According to data collected between May 2018 and June 2019, the average age of drug abuse was 12.9 years. Overall, 15.1 percent of participants reported ever using some substance.