Chandigarh, The centre is fighting the drug risks with data or figures that are 15 years old as India is a potentially large opiate market Every year, the government is obliged to send data on drug abuse as a signatory to various international drug control treaties in the population to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

This year's World Drug Report, released on June 23, once again shows "no data available" for India.

Each time, the government replied that it was planning a survey, but so far the only data available is from a 2001 survey that was released as a report in 2004.

Sources in the ministry of health said the UN does not accept 2001 data and leaves the column for India blank as the entries in World Drug Reports of all years since 2001 are same for India each time.

For World Drug Report 2016, new estimates are available from only 20 such countries. The latest report states: "There are no regularly monitored prevalence data for some of the potentially large opiate markets in countries in Asia (notably China and India)."

Based on the 2001 study commissioned by the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment, 0.84% of Punjab's population is opioid-dependent as against 0.7% across the country.