Record 1 In 16 People Worldwide Now Use Drugs, UN Report Says

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

One out of every 16 people in the world uses drugs, the highest level at any point in human history, the United Nations said in a June 26 post on X.

“While cannabis remains the most widely used drug, the global cocaine market has reached record levels,” the U.N. stated in the post. In the 10 years between 2014 and 2024, global production of cocaine has surged by more than 370 percent.

The numbers come from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) World Drug Report 2026, released on June 26.

In total, 331 million people worldwide used drugs in 2024, up by 34 percent over the previous 10 years. Cannabis was the most used narcotic with 256 million users, followed by opioids with 63 million, amphetamines with 32 million, cocaine with 25 million, and ecstasy with 21 million users.

There were about 63 million people with drug use disorders, with one in 12 undergoing treatment.

Among women with drug use disorders, one in 23 was receiving treatment. This figure was higher among men at one in nine. 

Out of the 14 million who used drugs via injections, almost 7 million had hepatitis C, 1.7 million were living with HIV, and 1.5 million had both.

The report observed that one of the “biggest reckonings with drug use in recent years occurred in Canada and the United States, which were rocked by an opioid crisis in the first two decades of this century that caused nearly a million deaths.”

However, the peak of the crisis “appears to have passed,” with 2024 figures showing a decline in opioid deaths involving fentanyl.

In a January 2026 report, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that drug overdose death rates involving synthetic opioids other than methadone fell by 35.6 percent between 2023 and 2024.

While opioid deaths have declined, the vast majority of such deaths took place in the United States and Canada, the UNODC report said, adding that fentanyl opioids continued to account for the largest share of such deaths.

The agency also highlighted the impact of nitazenes—synthetic opioids that are more potent than fentanyl—in the United States. In 2024, 409 deaths were attributed to nitazenes in 43 U.S. jurisdictions.

In a June 26 statement, UNODC said that drug manufacturers are inventing new synthetic drugs in a bid to avoid detection and bypass regulations. In 2024, five times more drug types were found in drug seizures than prior to 2000.

Monica Juma, executive director of UNODC, said there has been an “unprecedented spike” in new drug types entering the market, some of which are more potent or dangerous than existing ones.

“We are already suffering the impact: millions of premature deaths and healthy years of life needlessly lost; drug trafficking networks that are distorting economies; the destruction of lives, communities, and livelihoods; and the compounding of insecurity and violence,” Juma said.

“The imperative to focus on stopping organized crime groups has never been greater. We must surge deterrence efforts, increase intelligence-sharing, and coordinate joint operations, while investing more in prevention and treatment.”

Tackling US Drug Addiction

Last month, the Trump administration’s drug czar, Sara Carter, released the 2026 National Drug Control Strategy, detailing the roadmap that the United States plans to use to tackle the drug crisis.

While the strategy involves several measures, such as securing global supply chains from transnational criminals behind the influx of drugs into the United States, one of the key focus areas is the treatment provided to counter addiction.

Carter said authorities will “work tirelessly” to eliminate the demand for drugs in the United States.

“We will build a culture of resilience where living drug-free is the norm. We will empower educators, faith leaders, and families to protect our children from this chemical assault,” she said.

“And we will ensure that compassionate, effective treatment and recovery support are available to every American who is courageously fighting to reclaim their life from addiction.”

According to the strategy, the administration will seek to ensure that treatments for drug addiction are “more accessible than continued drug use.”

In a May 7 statement, Libby Jones of the Global Health Advocacy Incubator raised concerns about the Trump administration’s fiscal year 2027 budget request that cut funding for some addiction programs.

The request cuts $261 million from the Substance Abuse Prevention program and $576 million from the Mental and Behavioral Health subtotal.

“A strategy that says treatment should be easier to obtain than illicit drugs must have the infrastructure to make that real,” Jones said.

Meanwhile, in a June 19 statement, the Department of Homeland Security said that the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized 32 percent more cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl, heroin, and marijuana nationwide in May compared with two years back.

“CBP has seized 56 percent more drugs this fiscal year through May than it seized during the same period of FY 2024,” the department said. FY refers to fiscal year.