Latest news with #2025WorldDrugReport
TimesLIVE
18 hours ago
- Health
- TimesLIVE
UN flags cannabis explosion in Africa on World Drug Day
The UN's 2025 World Drug Report, released on Thursday, reveals that 244-million people used cannabis in 2023, making it by far the most widely used drug globally. That figure represents 4.6% of the world's population aged between 15 and 64. According to the report, cannabis use has increased by 34% over the past decade, with the highest rates seen in North America, where 20.2% of people used cannabis last year. This information comes as the world marks International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, commonly known as World Drug Day. The day, which is observed annually on June 26, raises awareness of the global drug crisis and calls for multilateral co-operation in prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. The theme for 2025, 'Break the Cycle. #StopOrganisedCrime,' urges long-term, focused action to disrupt the deadly link between drug trafficking and organised crime, both of which fuel violence, corruption and regional instability. The report revealed that about one woman for every nine men uses cannabis, highlighting a significant gender disparity in consumption patterns. It also showed that Southern, West and Central Africa recorded especially high use of cannabis, with about 10% of the population aged 15—64 reporting cannabis use in the past year. The report revealed that Africa also accounts for a large share of global drug enforcement activity. 'Africa accounted for 44% of the total cannabis herb and resin seized worldwide in 2023, ahead of the Americas, Asia and Europe,' the report stated. It said that cannabis remains the most common drug behind treatment admissions across the continent. 'Cannabis remains the main drug of concern for 32% of people in treatment in Africa. The majority of those seeking treatment for drug use disorders in Africa are under the age of 35, with cannabis and opioids being the substances most often involved,' the UN said. Africa is also a significant trafficking corridor with West Africa for cocaine, East Africa for heroin, and much of the continent for cannabis, which is largely produced in the region. The UN report estimated that 316-million people worldwide used a drug (excluding alcohol and tobacco) in 2023, which is 6% of the global population and up from 5.2% in 2013. The report broke down other uses of substance abuse in the world showing that 61-million used opioids, 31-million used amphetamines, 25-million used cocaine and 21-million used ecstasy-type substances. Among women globally, drug use rates show that 24% used cannabis, 14% used opioids, 25% used cocaine, 29% used amphetamines and 32% used ecstasy. 'Cannabis accounts for a substantial share of drug-related harm globally. An estimated 42% of drug use disorder cases worldwide are cannabis use disorders. In 2023, 41% of countries reported cannabis as the main drug of concern for people in drug treatment,' the report said. South Africa has seen its own dramatic changes, as in 2023 authorities destroyed large quantities of seized drugs, including 700kg of cannabis with a street value of R21m, intercepted in Durban Harbour. These enforcement actions are occurring alongside major legal shifts as in 2018 a Constitutional Court ruling decriminalising private use, possession and cultivation of cannabis in South Africa. The Cannabis for Private Purposes Act of 2024 formalised the legal framework around personal use. And recently as a response to public pressure, the government also lifted its ban on cannabis and hemp foodstuffs, a move welcomed by civil society groups and the local cannabis industry after the health minister Aaron Motsoaledi had temporarily banned it.
Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Hindustan Times
Cartels shift drug production abroad, hide low-grade drugs in everyday good
Cartels are offshoring more cocaine production outside of Colombia and exporting lower-grade drugs that are easier to conceal in products such as paints and plastics. Increasingly, the groups are smuggling coca paste which is cheap, unrefined cocaine, to laboratories as far away as Italy and the Netherlands to be processed into the final powder, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Drugs smuggling gangs have succeeded in mixing coca paste into products such as asphalt, vegetable oil and charcoal, according to the UN.(Representational Image) 'In terms of risk, if a shipment gets intercepted they're losing less,' said Leonardo Correa, who heads the UNODC's monitoring and technical analysis in the Andes. 'Coca paste is also easier to mix with other products, which facilitates smuggling.' The evolving tactics seek to profit from soaring production, with global output up more than third in a year, driven partly by Colombian President Gustavo Petro's decision to scale back the military campaign against the private armies of drug traffickers. It's a policy that may change after 2026 elections if angry voters back candidates promising a security crackdown. Petro's approval rating fell to 29% in June, according to local pollster Invamer. Global cocaine production reached a record of an estimated 3,708 tons in 2023, up 300% over the last decade, according to the UNODC's 2025 World Drug Report published Thursday. That makes it the fastest-growing illicit drug market. While drug violence 'has long been a problem in Latin America and the Caribbean, it is now spreading to countries in Western Europe,' the UNODC found. 'Traffickers are also riding a wave of record production, pushing into new markets across Asia and Africa.' Chemical Camouflage Smuggling gangs have succeeded in mixing coca paste into products such as asphalt, vegetable oil and charcoal, according to the UN. Experts with some knowledge of chemistry then extract the product at the destination, Correa said. In December, Portuguese police dismantled a major cocaine laboratory. Such laboratories have also been found in Spain, Central America and elsewhere. Satellite images show the increase in cocaine supply is being fueled by a surge in production of coca, the raw material for the drug, in Colombia. Output in Bolivia was stable, while in Peru it fell slightly, according to the UN. In Colombia, Petro has sought 'total peace' through negotiations with guerrillas and the private armies of drug traffickers since taking office in 2022. So far these talks have failed to yield major demobilizations, while the groups have taken advantage of a relative lack of military pressure to seize more territory. Many farmers have turned back to growing coca, after crop substitution programs introduced as part of a previous peace process in 2016 have been underfunded and poorly implemented. Producing coca provides them with a more reliable income. Colombia's surging coca production and Petro's strained relationship with President Donald Trump put the Andean nation at risk of being decertified as a partner in the war on drugs by the US. That would put the country in the same category as Bolivia and Nicolas Maduro's Venezuela, and limit access to some aid and loans.
