Bengaluru: Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will launch the ‘Drug Free India’ (DFI) campaign in Chandigarh on February 18.

The event will be webcast live giving a chance for over 60,000 youth, all over the country, to be a part of it.

This awareness campaign is one among the several steps taken by Art of Living in the field of de-addiction. The campaign is already trending on social media sparking conversations across the globe about the prevalence of a drug problem in India.

Support continues to pour in with over 80 celebrities, business leaders, political leaders and iconic sportspersons joining the campaign already. According to social bearing data, the campaign has received 82 lakh impressions, having engaged 4,200 verified accounts on Twitter within just nine hours, and the movement continues to grow.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi too took to Twitter to support DFI campaign. He wrote, “I wholeheartedly support the #DrugFreeIndia movement organised by @SriSri Ji and his team. Their efforts will spread great awareness on the menace of substance abuse. Efforts like these reflect the collective will of our society towards a better and healthier future. @ArtofLiving.”

Actor Sanjay Dutt, who is known to have fought substance abuse early in his life, said he intends to create as much awareness as possible on the subject and urged citizens in India to come forward to fight drug addiction.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said, "When stress increases, man seeks to get rid of this stress and in this process gets into substance abuse."

He went on to say that when one trains the mind in handling stress effectively through spiritual tools like meditation, pranayama and yoga, then one's perspective towards life changes.

"So many youths are destroying their lives by getting into addiction. To put an end to this menace, we are organising this nation-wide movement called the Drug Free India," he added.

Part of the initiative includes formation of social wellness and awareness training clubs that have been opened across college campuses. College students and teachers would spread the word against drug abuse throughout the year in order to prevent youngsters from resorting to drugs in the first place.