Some 200,000 people die yearly from drug abuse, a new World Drug Report released on June 23 said. It added that while global markets for cocaine, heroin and cannabis declined or remained stable, the production and abuse of prescription drugs and new synthetic drugs rose.
UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov
The flagship report was launched on June 23 at the United Nations headquarters by Secretary- General Ban Ki- moon; Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); Joseph Deiss, President of the General Assembly; Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy; and Viktor Ivanov, Director of Russia’s Federal Service for Drug Control.
According to the report, Fedotov stressed the principle of “shared responsibility” and the need to build national, regional and international efforts in a comprehensive strategy on the cultivation, production and trafficking of drugs. He said the UNODC has spearheaded a number of regional mechanisms to confront the problem of Afghan opium, including the Paris Pact, the Triangular Initiative, and the Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Centre. These approaches could be models for other regions, such as South-East Asia or Central America.
“Drugs cause some 200,000 deaths a year. Since people with serious drug problems provide the bulk of drug demand, treating this problem is one of the best ways of shrinking the market,” he said.
In 2009, member states reaffirmed the validity of the international drug control regime during the high-level segment of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs. “This year is the 50th anniversary of the keystone of the international drug control system: the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. Its provisions remain sound and highly relevant, as does its central focus on the protection of health,” said Fedotov.
Meanwhile, the report said illicit cultivation of opium poppy and coca bush remained limited to a few countries. Although there was a sharp decline in opium production and a modest reduction in coca cultivation, overall, the manufacture of heroin and cocaine was still significant. Globally, some 210 million people, or 4.8 per cent of the population aged 15 to 64, took illicit substances at least once in the previous year.
Cocaine decline
Overall, drug use, including problem drug use, (0.6 per cent of the population aged 15 to 64) remained stable. However, demand soared for substances not under international control, such as piperazine and cathinone. The effects of cannabis are also being mimicked by synthetic cannabinoids, or “spice”. Global opium poppy cultivation reached some 195,700 hectares (ha) in 2010, a small increase over 2009. Opium production declined, however, by 38 per cent to 4,860 tonnes, due to a blight that wiped out much of the opium harvest in Afghanistan.
The report added that global cocaine cultivation has been lessened due to decline in Colombia and the U. S. cocaine market shrink. The global area under coca cultivation shrank to 149,100 ha in 2010, an 18 per cent drop from 2007. During that time, potential cocaine production fell by about one-sixth, reflecting the significant decrease in cocaine production in Colombia. Consequently, this decline was not offset by small increases in Peru and the Plurinational State of Bolivia.
The U. S. cocaine market has witnessed massive declines in recent years. Nevertheless, the U. S. continues to be the largest cocaine market, with an estimated consumption of 157 tonnes of cocaine in 2009, equivalent to 36 per cent of global consumption.
The second largest cocaine market is Europe, notably West and Central Europe, where consumption is estimated at 123 tonnes. Over the past decade, cocaine consumption in Europe has doubled (though over the last few years it has remained largely stable). It is estimated that about 21 tonnes of cocaine were trafficked via West Africa to Europe in 2009. This is down from two years before, when the total could have reached as high as 47 tonnes.
