Drug use on rise: World Drug Report 2019

Severity and complexity of world drug situation is increasing, with the number of people using drugs 30 percent higher than it was in 2009, according to a UN report published here on Wednesday.

In 2017, an estimated 271 million people, or 5.5 percent of the global population aged 15-64, had used drugs in the previous year, 30 percent higher than it was in 2009, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said in the report.

The report estimates that the number of people using opioid -- an umbrella term for drugs ranging from opium and derivatives such as heroin to synthetics like fentanyl and tramadol -- at 53 million, up 56 percent from previous estimates, and that opioids are responsible for two thirds of the 585,000 people who died as a result of drug use in 2017.

North America's synthetic opioid overdoses crisis reached new heights in 2017, with more than 47,000 opioid overdose deaths recorded in the United States, an increase of 13 percent from the previous year, and 4,000 opioid-related deaths in Canada, a 33 percent increase from 2016, according to the World Drug Report 2019.

Fentanyl and its analogues remain the key problem of the synthetic opioid crisis in North America, but West and Central and North Africa are experiencing a crisis of another synthetic opioid, tramadol, said the report. Global seizures of tramadol jumped from less than 10 kg in 2010 to a record high of 125 tons in 2017.

According to the UN figures, in the most populous country in Africa, 4 million people take tramadol out of addiction.

Estimated global illicit manufacture of cocaine also reached an all-time high of 1976 tons in 2017, an increase of 25 percent on the previous year, said the report. This was mainly driven by increases in cocaine manufacture in Columbia, which produced an estimated 70 percent of the world's cocaine.

The global quantity of cocaine seized in 2017 increased to 1,275 tons -- the largest quantity ever reported, and an increase on the previous year of 13 percent.

It is estimated that 18.1 million people used cocaine in 2016, with the highest rates reported in North America (2.1 percent) and Oceania (1.6 percent).

The most widely used drug worldwide continues to be cannabis, with an estimated 188 million people having used the drug in the previous year, said the UN.

Globally, some 35 million people are estimated to suffer from drug use disorders, while only one in seven receives treatment services every year, according to the report.