Objective. Development of a reliable questionnaire to quantify habit of substance abuse with development of oral submucous fibrosis. Materials and methods. The questionnaire, substance abuse and precancer evaluation (SAPE) tool, was designed to assess the association of the habit of substance abuse with development of oral submucous fibrosis, a precancerous condition and various physical, social, psychological factors. Health professionals confirmed the content validity. Face validity was established by a participant focus group. The questionnaire was applied to 1100 participants with or without habit of substance abuse. Results. A total of 52 validated items were applied to the participants. Principal component analysis yielded 8 components having eigenvalues ≥2.0. Reliability was obtained by Cronbach’s α. The validity was measured by computing product–moment correlation coefficient between the diagnosis and the scores on the selected components. Conclusions. Preliminary reliability and validity of the SAPE tool has been demonstrated although more extensive testing is suggested.