Number of people battling drug addiction globally up to 296 million: UN World Drug Report

The fast, cheap and easy production of synthetic drugs like cocaine is booming worldwide, and it has radically transformed drug markets around the world. As per a United Nations report released on Sunday, it's not just cocaine, methamphetamine trafficking is also expanding beyond established markets, including in Afghanistan where the drug is now being produced.

In 2021 — the latest year for which data is available — coca bush cultivation and total cocaine production were at record highs. Further, the global number of cocaine users, estimated at 22 million that same year, is growing steadily, reports Reuters citing the UN Office on Drugs and Crimes' (UNODC) annual World Drug Report.

Where are the drugs being produced?

AFP reports that, as per the UN report, criminals continue to exploit conflicts and global crises to expand drug production.

It said that "there are signs" that the war in Ukraine "could trigger an expansion of the manufacture and trafficking of synthetic drugs, given the existing know-how and the large markets... developing in the region".

"Although the global cocaine market continues to be concentrated in the Americas and in Western and Central Europe (with very high prevalence also in Australia), in relative terms it appears that the fastest growth, albeit building on very low initial levels, is occurring in developing markets found in Africa, Asia and South-Eastern Europe," it added.

Drugs and addiction

More people are now battling drug addiction. As per the report, over a period of 10 years, the number of people who use drugs has increased by 23 per cent to 296 million people worldwide.

Additionally, an estimated one in five people, or 39.5 million people around the world, are suffering from drug use disorders.

"The world is currently experiencing a prolonged surge in both supply and demand of cocaine, which is now being felt across the globe and is likely to spur the development of new markets beyond the traditional confines," said UNODC in its report.

20 million consume ecstasy, 22 million people are using cocaine, a further 36 million are on amphetamines while opioids and cannabis use stood at 60 million and 219 million, respectively.

Drug seizures

Reportedly it's not just the use, cocaine seizures seem to have grown faster than production. This has helped contain the total supply to some extent, said the report. Reuters reports that the upper limit of the estimated total supply was higher in the mid-2000s compared to now.

As per UNODC, reports and seizures involving methamphetamine produced in Afghanistan suggested the drug economy was changing in the country.

"The increase in the use and manufacture of methamphetamine in Afghanistan is of growing concern in South-West Asia, where trafficking in the substance is expanding beyond this region."

In Afghanistan, around 80 per cent of the world's illicit opium poppy, which is used to make heroin, was produced. The report adds that while 2022 saw an opium production boom in Afghanistan, "the effects of the drug ban, announced in Afghanistan in April 2022, including its application and enforcement, remain to be seen for the 2023 opium harvest." It further predicts that the "changes in opium production in Afghanistan will have implications for opiate markets in virtually all regions of the world."

"Questions remain regarding the linkages between illegal manufacture of heroin and of methamphetamine (inAfghanistan) and whether the two markets will develop in parallel or whether one will substitute the other," it added.

(With inputs from agencies)

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