UN Warns of Record Surge in Potent Synthetic Drugs as Global Drug Use Climbs
Vienna-Global drug use continued to rise in 2024, driven by an unprecedented increase in new synthetic narcotics that are more potent and difficult to detect, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said on Friday, warning of a potentially lasting shift in illicit drug markets.
An estimated 331 million people, or 6.2% of the global population aged 15 to 64, used illicit drugs in 2024, according to the UNODC’s 2026 World Drug Report. The figure marks an increase from 5.2% of the same age group in 2014, reflecting a decade-long upward trend in global drug consumption.
Cannabis remained the world’s most widely used drug in 2024, followed by opioids, amphetamines, cocaine and ecstasy. The report said cannabis users increased by 40% between 2014 and 2024, aided in part by legalization and decriminalization policies in several jurisdictions.
The agency expressed particular concern over the rapid expansion of synthetic opioids, including fentanyls, nitazenes and orphines, which are increasingly being marketed as substitutes for heroin.
“We have seen an unprecedented spike in new types of drugs on the market, and worryingly, some are more potent or dangerous than before,” UNODC Executive Director Monica Juma said in a statement.
The report said illicit manufacturers were developing new synthetic compounds to evade regulations and law enforcement, with drug seizures in 2024 identifying five times more drug types than were detected before 2000.
The number of new psychoactive substances circulating in global drug markets reached 755 in 2024, including 118 substances reported for the first time, underscoring the accelerating pace of innovation within illicit drug networks.
The global heroin trade also continued to feel the effects of Afghanistan’s 2022 ban on poppy cultivation imposed by the Taliban, prompting traffickers to increasingly shift toward synthetic alternatives.
“A turn away from plant-based opiates toward synthetics could cause a permanent shift in the global opioid market, with ramifications on how these drugs are used and the harms therein,” the report said.
The UNODC also reported the emergence of new methamphetamine markets beyond traditional production centers, with supplies increasingly originating from Myanmar as well as North America, West and Southern Africa, and Southwest Asia.
Cocaine production expanded more than fourfold over the past decade, with traffickers increasing shipments not only to established markets in Europe, the Americas and Oceania but also to rapidly growing markets across Africa and Asia, the report said.
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UNODC, United Nations, World Drug Report, synthetic drugs, fentanyl, nitazenes, opioids, cannabis, cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy, new psychoactive substances, drug trafficking, Afghanistan, Taliban, Myanmar, global health, organized crime, illicit drugs, Vienna, narcotics, public health
