The United Nations Organization (UN) published the World Drug Report 2023.
An epidemic is deepening in the American continent due to the growing consumption of opioids. There is also more cocaine production and methamphetamine disorders, and fewer marijuana seizures. Drug trafficking is of such magnitude that it is unprecedented.
This was revealed by the World Drug Report 2023 released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and which disaggregates the state of the illegal substance market on each continent.
In the case of America, he warns that opioid use remains high, especially in the northwhere 3.3% of the adult population declared having tried them in 2021. They are equivalent to 10.9 million people.
In addition, South America and Central America and the Caribbean are the subregions with the higher proportion of people in treatment for drug use of products derived from cocaine Worldwide. The non-medical use of stimulant drugs is also higher than in the other regions.
“There has been a significant increase in the number of people in treatment for methamphetamine-related disorders in North America in recent years, particularly in Mexico“, the document noted.
Added to this is the prevalence of people who inject drugs in North America, which is high, since it is estimated that they represent 1.0% of the population (3.4 million people).
no brake
The report specified that, despite the rapid growth of the cannabis market, seizures from this plant are declining significantly in North America because they have ceased to be a priority, unlike what happens with cocaine.
“Cocaine seizures have moved closer to the production centers of South America, where the total amount is already more than three times that seized in North America,” he said.
Regarding methamphetamines, he explained, those manufactured in North America are destined for consumption in that same sub-region. And the trend is growing.
“Seizure data seems to indicate that both the size of laboratories and their volume of production are increasing, although the number of laboratories is likely to be decreasing,” he said.
The American continent, he added, is affected by the increase in cocaine trafficking, linked to the unprecedented levels that the manufacture of this drug has reached in South America.
In this sense, he specified that Cocaine manufacturing in South America reached a record of 2,304 tons of this drug in its state of maximum purity.
One of the most alarming data is that the opioid epidemic related to illicitly produced fentanyl is rising to All-time highs overdose deaths in North Americaa phenomenon that accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic.
big picture
The report highlighted that Cannabis remains the most widely used drug globally. since it is estimated that it was used by 219 million people, that is, by 4% of the world population. 17.4% of users are from North America.
“The number of people who consume cannabis has increased by 21% in the last decade,” he specified to reflect the dimension of the rise of this plant.
Opioids rank second, since it is estimated that at least 60 million people (1.2% of the world population) used them. Half of them resided in Asia.
“It is estimated that, of the people who used opioids in 2021, 31.5 million used opioids, mainly heroin,” he explained, noting that it is a market that has remained practically stable, without significant increases.
The impact is very high, since around 38% of people who underwent treatment for drug use in 2021 did so for opioids.
Thus, are still the deadliest substancessince they cause two thirds of the deaths directly related to drugs (mainly due to overdose).
Another of the most striking data is that the world area dedicated to poppy cultivation, the plant from which the resin is extracted for the manufacture of opium and its derivatives, increased drastically by 28% in 2022.
“Opium production decreased by 3.0%, but the long-term trend remained upward. The bulk (80%) of the world’s illicit opium production continued to be concentrated in Afghanistan,” the report noted.
Source: RT
