UNITED NATIONS: The number of adults with drug abuse problems worldwide has gone up for the first time in six years, a United Nation report said on Thursday.
The World Drug Report 2016, which examines the health impact of using opiates, cocaine, cannabis, amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) and new psychoactive substances (NPS), was released by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), ahead of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26.
It also came in the wake of the UN General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS), held in April, which resulted in a series of concrete operational recommendations and marked a landmark moment in global drug policy.
The report found nearly 250 million people between the age of 15 and 64 used at least one drug in 2014. Although this figure has not grown over the past four years in proportion to the global population, the number of people classified as suffering from drug use disorders exceeded 29 million people, compared with 27 million in the previous report.
Additionally, around 12 million people inject drugs, with 14 percent of these living with HIV. The overall impact of drug use in terms of health consequences continues to be devastating.
Collectively, these look to promote long-term, sustainable, development-oriented and balanced drug control policies and programmes.
UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov said, “It was critical that the international community come together to ensure the commitments adopted at the UNGASS are met and the world drug report offers an important tool to assist with this task.”
By providing a comprehensive overview of major developments in drug markets, trafficking routes and the health impact of drug use, the report highlights support for the comprehensive, balanced and integrated rights-based approaches as reflected in the outcome document which emerged from the UNGASS, he said. While drug-related mortality has remained stable around the world, there were still around 207,000 deaths reported in 2014, an unacceptably high number of deaths which are preventable if adequate interventions are in place.
Heroin use and related overdose deaths appears to have increased sharply over the last two years in some countries in North America and western and central Europe.
Underlining the significance of this, Fedotov noted that while the challenges posed by new psychoactive substances remain a serious concern, heroin continues to be the drug that kills the most people and this resurgence must be addressed urgently.
Overall, opioids continue to pose the highest potential harm and health consequences among major drugs.
Cannabis, meanwhile, remains the most commonly used drug at the global level, with an estimated 183 million people having used it in 2014. By analysing trends over several years, the report shows that with changing social norms towards cannabis predominantly in the west cannabis use has climbed in parallel with higher acceptability towards the drug.
In many regions, more people have entered treatment for cannabis use disorders over the past decade.
