The United Nations' office on drugs and crime, on Monday, warned of converging crises as the illicit drug markets continue to expand.
The Vienna-based office mentioned in its annual report of 2023 that the increasingly agile trafficking networks are compounding intersecting global crises and challenging health services and law enforcement responses.
New estimates of people who inject drugs are higher than previously estimated, found the report adding that this is caused by treatment services and other interventions falling short due to record numbers of displaced people.
The World Drug report also warned of the mounting use of synthetic drugs due to their accessibility saying that such drugs are changing the market with their lethal results.
The new data 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.
Meanwhile, the number of people who suffer from drug use disorders skyrocketed to 39.5 million, a 45 percent increase over 10 years.
The report highlighted how socioeconomic conditions drive drug challenges, the environmental devastation and human rights abuses caused by illicit drug economies; and the rising dominance of synthetic drugs.
The report indicated that youths are more susceptible to drug abuse disorders, and stressed that priority must be given to public health, prevention and access to treatment.
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.
The report further underscores the need 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.
It argued that large inequalities in access and availability of controlled drugs for medical use persist, particularly for pain management. The disparity is particularly prevalent between the global North and South and across urban and rural areas, making some people feel the negative impact of drugs more than others.
Reacting to the findings of the report, 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 added, "We 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."
Source: Kuwait News Agency