UN report Global drug use up synths and cocaine surge

Global drug use continues to rise, with an estimated 331 million people using drugs in 2024, according to a United Nations report released Friday. The World Drug Report 2026, published by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), highlights a significant shift in the global drug trade, marked by a surge in synthetic drugs and record cocaine production, even as a dramatic decline in opium cultivation in Afghanistan reshapes heroin markets.

The report states that 6.2 percent of the global population aged 15 to 64 used drugs in 2024, up from 5.2 percent a decade earlier. Cannabis remained the most widely used substance, with approximately 256 million users, followed by opioids, amphetamines, cocaine, and ecstasy.

A central development is the near-total collapse of opium production in Afghanistan following a nationwide cultivation ban enforced by the Taliban in 2022. The report details that opium poppy cultivation fell by 95 percent, from 232,000 hectares in 2022 to 10,200 hectares in 2025. This has driven global illicit opium production to its lowest level in decades, creating a supply shock expected to intensify as pre-ban stockpiles are depleted, potentially running out by the...