As doctors, in our day to day practice we see cases like gastritis, tuberculosis,asthma, heart disease, domesticviolence, road traffic accident, pregnancy in unmarried girls, etc. In allthese cases, as a clinician we take proper history, do physical examination, dorequired investigations, make a working diagnosis and then either treat ofrefer the case as per the need. But inall such above scenarios, as doctors do we miss something. Something that couldthe cause behind the cause!!!Yes,most probably. We might be missing to take the history of drug abuse. If one reflects, drug consumption could beeither a predisposing, precipitating or aggravating factor in all above cases. In-fact,according to Global Burden of disease study, 2013, drug abuse in one or theother form is instrumental in the top ten causes of mortality in India- be itheart disease, respiratory disease, suicide, or road accidents or hypertensionor diabetes. But onemay argue that drug use has been a part of our culture, our tradition forcenturies. Then why make an issue about it. Yesagreed. We Indians have been consuming drugs in some form since time unknown. The Hindu mythology says that duringAmrit Manthan one of the “14 Jewels” that the ocean delivered was Varuni- the Goddess of wine. The Sumerian people used the “joy plant”, which is believedto be opium way back in 5000 B.C. Our lord Shiva use to enjoy Somras- Elixir oflife. Drugs have been the part of our festivals- be it Holi or Diwali. Drugs like alcohol, opium, cannabis are usedin every major life event, be it birth, marriages or death. Butthings have changed. In-fact , nothing has remained the same. Earlier drugs were used, now they are abused.The last one decade has seen a new era in drug consumption pattern in India—newunknown drugs, new profile of people using drugs, new reasons for usingdrugs, new sources for getting drugs. Howmany people are using drugs in some form in our country? Actually we do not know. The reason being the last datacomes from the National Health Survey done in 2004. Since then there has notbeen any systematic drug prevalence survey in India. But from the regional datafrom different parts of our country, we know that drug is a huge problem in allthe metro cities and large towns all over the country. The drug abuse problemin Punjab is unimaginable with almost 60-70 % households having at-least one person using drugs. Maharashtra has thelargest number of drug related suicides according to a National Crime Records Bueuro , 2014. Mega metrocities like Mumbai, Calcutta, Bangalore, Chennai etc have a huge number ofyoung populations hooked to drugs at increasingly young ages. The average ageof starting drugs have gone as low as 12 years. Traditionaldrugs like alcohol, tobacco, opium, cannabis, datura have been used for yearsand so we know he short term and long term effects these drugs have on humanbody. But last decade us seen a tsunami of synthetic- designer drugs . In theyear 2014, according to World Drug report, there were 541 such new psychoactivesubstances. These include Bath Salts (Ivory Wave), “2C” Family, Kratom, Ketamine, LSD, Methamphetamines, Meow- Meow, Crack, Smack,Synthetic Cannabinoids(K2/Spice), etc. And drugs are not used singly but indeadly cocktails like cough syrup and rum, pepsior coke, with crushed spasmo proxyvontablets and iodex. Thesedrugs are multiple times potent and much more addictive than the traditionaldrugs. And we yet do not know their long term effects on our body and brain. Whoare using drugs? Drugs users today are notjust the dishevelled, jobless, person on the street or the filthy richpopulation who have nothing to do but dope on drugs. The “new urban junkie” hasgot a whole new profile: young, educated, working, upper and middle classes.They are professionals, student, women. Their philosophy of life is shaped bycyberspace: take what you like and leave what you don’t. A generation that craves quick and easysolutions, wants everything fast and more, these drugs appeal to the needs of today’ssocieties and have become part of modern lifestyles—recreationally andoccupationally. Andwhat are the reasons given for taking drugs? They seek chemical comfort to ease life’s stresses andstrains—do a job better, stay awake longer, feel relaxed, kill boredom or justto look “cool”. A growing tribe of the young workforce in our call centres andstudents are taking to drugs. Whereare drugs bring sourced from? Traditionaldrug-trafficking zones were international zones such as the “Golden Triangle”(Myanmar, Thailand and Laos) in east and“Golden Crescent” in west (Iran,Afghanistan and Pakistan). Or they were grown locally like cannabis in HimachalPradesh, esp. Manali. But today, wedon’t require these physical channels for smuggling drugs. As these continue toexists, we have now internet and courier services for buying and selling drugs.All these dangerous drugs can be purchased at a click of a button frominternet - the dark net- that can onlybe accessed by specific software( Tor, The Onion route). And to buy these drugs special virtual currencieslike Bitcoin, Lite coin, Sexcoin are being used. In fact the World rug Report ,2016 states that proportion of drug users purchasing drugs via the Internet hadincreased from 1.2 per cent in 2000 to 25.3 per cent in 2014. Also,now we do not have to buy drugs. We can make them. Making synthetic drugs is nomore rocket science. One can go to the internet, download recipes and preparethem in the “ kitchen labs”. All these factors make procuring and consumingdrugs very easy and hassle free. When we as doctors are in the midst of thismanmade epidemic, we cannot shy away from our role tackling the menace. TheAddiction Medicine Lecture series has been started with the aim to equipdoctors with the updated knowledge, impart necessary skills and develop theright attitude. One needs to be warm, unbiased, non -judgemental and supportivetowards the person using drugs. Most of those who use drugs at some point of timedo feel like quitting. But, like a car without break, it’s beyond their willand capacity to stop drugs on their own, as drug addiction is a disease ofbrain.We as family physicians at the front linewarriors who can screen, treat and refer cases of drug use at a right timebefore it’s too late. But to do this, we need only one thing- MOTIVATION-motivation to work proactively towards the cause of drug addiction preventionand treatment. We may not be able to eradicate drug addiction at any point of time,but in future we can at-least face our children and say - “I TRIED”.