India home to largest number of opiate users: UN

According to the World Drug Report 2022, India has the most number of opiate users in the world.

Key Findings of the report:

• The report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has flagged 2020 seizures in India:
  • 5.2 tonne opium (fourth-highest globally)
  • 0.7 tonne morphine (third-highest)
  • 3.8 tons heroin (fifth-highest)
• India is one of the world’s single-largest opiate markets in terms of users and would likely be vulnerable to increased supply.
• There are already signs that an intensification of trafficking in opiates originating in Afghanistan may be taking place eastwards, in addition to southwards and westwards along the traditional Balkan route.
• The number of drug users increased 26 per cent globally over the last decade to 284 million people (15-64 years).
• An estimated 11.2 million injected drugs. Half of whom lived with hepatitis C, 1.4 million with HIV and 1.2 million with both.
• Globally, 209 million people consumed cannabis, 61 million use opiods, 34 million use amphetamines, 21 million use cocaine and 20 million use ecstasies.
• In Africa and South and Central America, most people were treated for cannabis abuse while opium addiction was rampant in south-eastern Europe and central Asia.
• Cocaine, methamphetamine and opium have all recorded an upward trend.
• Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, global manufacturing of cocaine grew 11 per cent in 2020 to 1,982 tonnes while seizures reached a record 1,424 tonnes.
  

World Drug Report:

• The report was released by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna.
• The World Drug Report 2022 provides an in-depth analysis of global drug markets.
• It examines the nexus between drugs and the environment within the bigger picture of the Sustainable Development Goals, climate change and environmental sustainability.