The number of drug users remained stable around the world in 2014, but the associated damage remains problematic, according to a UN report.
One in 20 adults in the world used at least one drug in 2014. “This represents 250 million people aged 15 to 64, a figure equivalent to the populations of Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom. United, ”says the UN in its annual report on drugs.
“It’s a lot, but there does not seem to have been an increase in the last four years in proportion to the world population,” notes the UNUDC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime).
12 million injectors
However, the UN estimates that 29 million drug users suffer from drug use disorders; “12 million of them are said to inject and 14% of these are living with HIV”.
Thus, it is the injectors that alarm the authors of the report. “People who inject drugs face some of the most serious health consequences.” In addition, this population, “generally in poor health”, is particularly exposed to the risk of overdose and sexually transmitted infections. “One in seven lives with HIV and one in two with hepatitis C,” the report said.
The risks of STIs appear to be particularly high in people who inject stimulants, although those who use injectable opiates are also at risk.
Decline in opium production
In addition, the UNODC notes a very sharp drop in global opium production (-38% in 2015 compared to the previous year), which reached 4,770 tonnes, the level recorded at the end of the 1990s. “This drop is explained in particular by a decline in production in Afghanistan,” the rapporteurs specify.
Despite this, the opium market is stable in 2014 and may remain so for some time. Indeed, “it seems unlikely that the sharp drop in opium production recorded in 2015 would lead to serious shortages in the world heroin market, given the high levels of production in previous years” and the stocks accumulated over the course of the year. from previous years.
Regarding cannabis, in 2014, “183 million people would have consumed cannabis, a drug which is therefore still the most commonly consumed on a global scale, followed by amphetamines”.
The authors state that, in total, “men are three times more likely than women to use cannabis, cocaine or amphetamines, while women are more likely than men to take opioids and tranquilizers at low prices. non-therapeutic purposes ”.
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