In the framework of Indian society, drug addiction must be evaluated against the backdrop of rapid industrialization, urbanization, the breakdown of the joint family system, and the erosion of traditional social controls (such as caste panchayats and religious sanctions). Radhakamal Mukerjee, in his pioneering works on social ecology and social values, emphasized how urban disorganization and slum environments breed psychological anomie and deviant escapes.
- Traditional vs. Modern Substance Use: Indian sociology distinguishes between traditional, ritually sanctioned, or communally regulated use of substances (e.g., bhang during Holi or sadhus using cannabis as part of ascetic traditions) and modern chemical/synthetic drug abuse (heroin, cocaine, pharmaceutical opioids) driven by commercial markets, urban anonymity, and westernization.
- M.N. Srinivas and Social Change: The destabilization of traditional rural structures through Sanskritization and Westernization has intensified cultural lag, where material culture and modern stressors outpace normative regulatory mechanisms, leading to heightened vulnerability among urban youth.
- Yogendra Singh's Modernization Paradigm: Singh's 'Modernization of Indian Tradition' (1973) highlights how structural discontinuities generate structural strain, identity crises, and generational conflict, which frequently manifest in escapist subcultures and substance abuse.
- Ecosystem of Addiction: Sociological field studies in India highlight the intersection of poverty, unemployment, peer pressure, migration, and homelessness with high rates of substance abuse, transforming a psychological issue into a structural malaise.