THE NEW YORK TIMES: A United Nations report found a rise in users, confiscation and deaths as cocaine trafficking expands into Africa and Asia, and violence spreads into Europe.
More people around the world are using illicit drugs than ever — more than 316 million in 2023.
Marijuana is the most used drug, followed by opioids and amphetamines. But it is the cocaine market that continues to break records year after year.
Global production reached a new high in 2023, racing to meet record demand and fueling new highs in cocaine-related deaths in many countries in recent years, according to a United Nations report released on Thursday.
An estimated 25 million people used cocaine worldwide in 2023 — up from 17 million a decade earlier. Production jumped by 34 percent from 2022.
Tracking the production and consumption of illicit drugs, including cocaine, is complex and time-consuming. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime’s annual World Drug Report, which this year includes data through 2023, is one of the few sources of global data on the illegal drug trade. » | Genevieve Glatsky | Genevieve Glatsky reported from Bogotá, Colombia. | Friday, June 27, 2025
Leer en español:
La cocaína es la droga ilegal que más crece en el mundo. Esta es la razón: Un informe de las Naciones Unidas revela un aumento de los consumidores, las confiscaciones y las muertes a medida que el tráfico de cocaína se expande por África y Asia, y la violencia se extiende por Europa. »
Fools worry about people enjoying a cigarette with all this going on! It is high time that health ministers in the West used their brains. Smoking a few cigarettes are the least of society’s problems; drug-use is the problem, not tobacco. What does it help a society to stub out cigarette smoking when the nation is high on drugs? How STUPID politicians are! – © Mark Alexander
