UNODC reports 331 million people used illegal drugs in 2024

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said about 331 million people used illegal drugs in 2024, a 34 % rise over the past decade. The agency identified 755 new psychoactive substances that year, 118 of them for the first time. Executive Director Monica Juma warned that “the market registers an unprecedented increase of new types of drugs.”

The report notes a shift from opium‑derived heroin after Afghanistan’s 2022 opium ban, with synthetic opioids such as fentanyl becoming a major problem in the United States. Cocaine production surpassed 4,000 tonnes of pure drug in 2024, four times the level ten years earlier, as cartels expand into Africa and Asia. Global consumption of cannabis rose 40 % in the last decade, and pervitin use grew at an average 13 % annually.

Health impacts are severe: 63 million people suffer from drug‑use disorders, 28 million disability‑adjusted life years were lost in 2021, and about half a million premature deaths occurred. Only one in 12 people with a disorder received treatment in 2024, with women especially underserved (5.5 % versus 13.6 % of men). The UN calls for stronger prevention, treatment and international cooperation.