Although India has been a world producer of legal drugs for pharmaceutical markets, it also has an ancient tradition of using drugs in daily activities and ceremonial rituals. Only in recent years has this historically drug-rich country developed a drug abuse problem. Because of its history of tolerance of drug use in culturally sanctioned activities, India offers a rich site for investigating the conditions that foster responsible and irresponsible use of drugs. Global efforts at crop reduction, interdiction, and criminal sanctions continue to be disappointing at best. As international pressure on India to curtail drug use through legal means has grown, so has increased addiction and related criminal behavior, raising questions about the effectiveness of this approach. A more realistic approach may be to identify factors that make drugs particularly alluring to some segments of the population and not to others, to emphasize responsible conduct. References