He consumption World Drugs increased in the last decade and reached in 2023 316 million people6 percent of the population from 15 to 65 years, compared with 5.2 %registered in 2013, emphasizes’World drug report 2025‘belonging UN
Cannabis It remains the most consumed drug, 244 million, which is equivalent to 77 percent of the total, the document published in Vienna says.
It is followed by opioids: 61 million amphetamines (30.7 million), cocaine (25 million) and ecstasy (21 million). In general, in the last decade, synthetic drugs experienced a great expansion.
While consumption varies depending on the regions, the UN warns of a clear global trend: more and more people turn to drugs and do this at a growing early age.
For this, it is necessary that the markets of these illegal products are diversified due to digitalization and access to substances through the Internet platform.
According to estimates, in 2022, 63 million people suffered from violations of drug use, that is, users with dependence, physical or psychological damage or an urgent need for treatment.
The report emphasizes that opioids remain the most fatal drugs: in the United States, fentany and other synthetic substances with high synthesis are beyond more than 100,000 deaths from an overdose in 2023.
In the marginal urban areas of South America, especially in Argentina, Bolivia and Peru, the paste of basic cocaine pasta (also known as “Paco”) has released a serious crisis of public health care for its high grade and toxicity.
In Europe, especially in the East, heroin and synthetic opioids are the most dangerous drugs.
In West Africa, the consumption of tramadol has become significant, analgesic opioid for medical use.
In Southeast Asia, methamphetamine has established itself as a drug for conventional use with a significant increase in seizures and cases of serious dependence.
The study does not offer an updated assessment of the number of deaths caused by the drugs directly, but repeats the data since 2021 with an estimate of almost 500 thousand deaths this year.
The report also indicates that other factors, such as forced displacements, poverty and violence, expand the number of people in a vulnerable situation that resort to drugs.
The UN condemns that only every fifth consumers with serious drug problems have access to treatment and punitive approaches, continue to prevail in many regions, to the detriment of strategies and the prevention of public health care.
In 2023, only 5.5 percent of women with serious drug disorders received some treatment compared to 13.6 % of men, according to the report.
Women, according to the UN, are faced with an additional stigma and fears, such as the loss of guardianship over their children.
Stygmatization not only reduces the likelihood that they turn for help, but also limits their access to services and attention, completes the UN report.
With information EFE
