Globally, 209 million consume cannabis, 61 million take opiods, 34 million use amphetamines, 21 million cocaine and 20 million use ecstasy
India has the most number of opiate users in the world, the World Drug Report 2022 has claimed. The trend is expected to rise with an increase in trafficking.
Afghanistan, from where traffickign originates, has had a similar experience.
The report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has flagged 2020 seizures in India:
The report released 27 June, 2022, did not specify the exact number of such substance abusers in India. But it wrote:
India is one of the world’s single-largest opiate markets in terms of users and would likely be vulnerable to increased supply, as there are already signs that an intensification of trafficking in opiates originating in Afghanistan may be taking place eastwards, in addition to southwards and westwards along the traditional Balkan route.
This spike can trigger increased levels of trafficking and associated organised crime.
The volume of tramadol seized in India decreased to 39 kilogramme in 2020 from 144 kg in 2019 even as a 1.2 tonnes were seized from nine countries in Asia. Government crackdown on non-medical use of tramadol and other psychoactive substances in 2020 can be cited as a a key reason for this.
The following year, “intensified international cooperation helped to identify and interdict global trafficking in tramadol, as well as tapentadol, a newly emerging opioid analgesic that is also not under international control and that appears to have partly displaced tramadol in some markets,” the report said.
The number of drug users increased 26 per cent globally over the last decade to 284 million people (15-64 years). An estimated 11.2 million injected drugs. Half of whom lived with hepatitis C, 1.4 million with HIV and 1.2 million with both.
Globally, 209 million people consumed cannabis, 61 million use opiods, 34 million use amphetamines, 21 million use cocaine and 20 million use ecstasy. In Africa and South and Central America, most people were treated for cannabis abuse while opium addiction was rampant in south-eastern Europe and central Asia.
State-level legalisation of cannabis in North America has resulted in an increase in drug use among young adults. Psychiatric disorders, suicides and hospitalisations have risen along with this while possession arrests have decreased.
Cocaine, methamphetamine and opium have all recorded an upward trend. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, global manufacturing of cocaine grew 11 per cent in 2020 to 1,982 tonnes while seizures reached a record 1,424 tonnes.
The volume of meth confiscated grew five-fold, with 117 countries in the seizure list — up from 84 a decade ago.
Area under opium poppy cultivation shrunk 16 per cent to 246,800 hectares in 2020-2021, but the “increased Afghan production triggered a seven per cent jump to 7,930 tonnes”, the report flagged.
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