The "World Drug Report 2018" released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) here on Wednesday states that Pakistan seized 23,172 kg of heroin and topped the list. Further, the country seized 64,608 kg of opium after Iran with 528,928 kg, besides seizing 6,596 kg morphine.
The report further stated that an estimated 53 percent of people who inject drugs (PWID) living with HIV worldwide (662,000 people) reside in just three countries including China, Pakistan and the Russian Federation, which is disproportionately large compared with the percentage of the world's PWID living in those three countries.
The report states that in Pakistan, the use of drugs such as cannabis and opiates is much higher among men than among women; negligible use of those substances is reported among women. The non-medical use of opioids and tranquillizers, however, is at a comparable level between men and women.
The analysis of all countries of origin, departure and transit of seized heroin and morphine reported by West and Central European countries in the annual report questionnaire over the period 2012-2016 revealed that 80 percent of all heroin-related mentions were linked to countries along the Balkan route. A further six percent are linked to Pakistan. While some heroin is trafficked directly from Pakistan by air or sea to Europe, and large opiate shipments are also trafficked from Pakistan to the Islamic Republic of Iran for onward trafficking along the Balkan route. The Islamic Republic of Iran reported that 80 percent of the morphine and 85 percent of the heroin it seized in 2016 had been trafficked into the country via Pakistan, with the rest being smuggled directly from Afghanistan. It should be highlighted, though, that significant amounts of Afghan opiates remain in the region for local consumption, maintained in the report.
In 2016, the main transit countries for heroin seized in the Russian Federation continued to be countries in Central Asia and Transcaucasia (notably Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan), while Pakistan, which had been mentioned as a transit country in 2015, was no longer a major country of transit.
While giving the presentation, Representative UNODC Cesar Guedes shared UNODC's flagship World Drug Report. The findings of the report are: the non-medical use of prescription drugs is becoming a major threat to public health and law enforcement worldwide with opioids causing the most harm and accounting for 76 percent of deaths where drug use disorders were implicated.
Fentanyl and its analogues remain a problem in North America, while tramadol - an opioid used to treat moderate and moderate-to-severe pain - has become a growing concern in parts of Africa and Asia. Accessibility of fentanyl and tramadol for medical use is vital for treating pain, but traffickers manufacture them illicitly and promote them in illegal markets causing considerable harm to health.
The global seizure of pharmaceutical opioids in 2016 was 87 tons, roughly the same as the quantities of heroin seized that year. Seizures of pharmaceutical opioids - mainly tramadol in West and Central Africa, and North Africa accounted for 87 percent of the global total in 2016. Countries in Asia, which had previously accounted for more than half of global seizures, reported just seven percent of the global total in 2016.
Global cocaine manufacture in 2016 reached the highest level ever reported, with an estimated 1,410 tons being produced. Most of the world's cocaine comes from Colombia while the report also showed that Africa and Asia are emerging as cocaine trafficking and consumption hubs.
From 2016-2017, global opium production jumped by 65 percent to 10,500 tons, the highest estimate recorded by UNODC since it started monitoring global opium production at the start of the twenty-first century. A marked increase in opium poppy cultivation and gradually improving yields in Afghanistan resulted in opium production there last year reaching 9,000 tons.
Cannabis was the most widely consumed drug in 2016, with 192 million people using it at least once during the previous year. The global number of cannabis users continues to rise and appears to have increased by roughly 16 percent in the decade to 2016, reflecting a similar increase in the world population.
Drugs such as heroin and cocaine that have been available for a long time increasingly coexist with new psychoactive substances (NPS) and prescription drugs. A growing stream of pharmaceutical preparations of unclear origin destined for non-medical use, together with poly drug use and poly drug trafficking, is adding unprecedented levels of complexity to the drug problem.
The number of people worldwide using drugs at least once a year remained stable in 2016 with around 275 million people, or roughly 5.6 percent of the global population aged 15-64 years.
Looking at vulnerabilities of various age groups, the report finds that drug use and the associated harm are the highest among young people compared to older people. Most research suggests that early (12-14 years) to late (15-17 years) adolescence is a critical risk period for the initiation of substance use and may peak among young people (aged 18-25 years).
Cannabis is a common drug of choice for young people. However, drug use among young people differs from country to country and depends on the social and economic circumstances of those involved. There are two extreme typologies of drug use among young people: club drugs in nightlife and recreational settings among affluent youth; and use of inhalants among street children to cope with their difficult circumstances.
Drug use among the older generation (aged 40 years and older) has been increasing at a faster rate than among those who are younger. This, although there is only limited data available, requires attention, the report finds. The people who went through adolescence at a time when drugs were popular and widely available are more likely to have tried drugs and, possibly, to have continued using them.
Older drug users may often have multiple physical and mental health problems, making effective drug treatment more challenging, yet little attention has been paid to drug use disorders among older people.
Globally, deaths directly caused by the use of drugs increased by 60 percent from 2000 to 2015. People over the age of 50 accounted for 27 percent of these deaths in 2000, but this had risen to 39 percent in 2015. About three quarters of deaths from drug use disorders among those aged 50 and older are among the ageing cohort of opioid users.
The majority of people who use drugs are men, but women have specific drug use patterns, the report finds. The prevalence of non-medical use of opioids and tranquillizers by women remains at a comparable level to that of men, if not actually higher. While women may typically begin using substances later than men, once they have initiated substance use, women tend to increase their rate of consumption of alcohol, cannabis, cocaine and opioids more rapidly than men as well as rapidly develop drug use disorders.