UNODC Launches World Drug Report 2023

In conjunction with World Drug Day, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) launched World Drug Report 2023 in Vienna on Monday.

The new study shows that continued record illicit drug supply and increasingly agile trafficking networks are compounding intersecting global crises and challenging health services and law enforcement responses.

It also put the global estimate of people who inject drugs in 2021 at 13.2 million, 18 percent higher than previously estimated. Globally, over 296 million people used drugs in 2021, an increase of 23 percent over the previous decade.

The number of people who suffer from drug use disorders has skyrocketed to 39.5 million, a 45 percent increase over 10 years,  according to the new report.

The World Drug Report 2023 features a special chapter on drug trafficking and crimes that affect the environment in the Amazon Basin, as well as sections on clinical trials involving psychedelics and medical use of cannabis; drug use in humanitarian settings; innovations in drug treatment and other services; and drugs and conflict.

It also highlights how social and economic inequalities drive – and are driven by – drug challenges; the environmental devastation and human rights abuses caused by illicit drug economies; and the rising dominance of synthetic drugs.

The demand for treating drug-related disorders remains largely unmet, according to the report. Only one in five people suffering from drug-related disorders were in treatment for drug use in 2021, with widening disparities in access to treatment across regions.

Youth populations are the most vulnerable to using drugs and are also more severely affected by substance use disorder in several regions. In Africa, 70 percent of people in treatment are under the age of 35.

Public health, prevention, and access to treatment services must be prioritized worldwide, the report pointed out, or drug challenges will leave more people behind.

The report further calls for law enforcement responses to keep pace with agile criminal business models and the proliferation of cheap synthetic drugs that are easy to bring to market.

Reacting to the report's findings, UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly said “We are witnessing a continued rise in the number of people suffering from drug use disorders worldwide, while treatment is failing to reach all of those who need it.”

She also underscores the need to step up responses against drug trafficking rings that are exploiting conflicts and global crises to expand illicit drug cultivation and production, especially of synthetic drugs, fueling illicit markets and causing greater harm to people and communities.