219M People Worldwide Consume Marijuana As Opioids Cause Greatest Harm, Confirms New UN Report

The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) confirmed once again that marijuana continues to be the most used substance worldwide. According to its World Drug Report for 2023 released this week, there were approximately 219 million marijuana users in 2021, or some 4.3% of the global population.

Per the report, one in every 17 people consumed marijuana in 2021, which is 13% higher than a decade earlier. On the global level, most cannabis users are men, around 70%, though gender differences are decreasing in some subregions with women accounting for 42% of marijuana consumers in North America.

Key Takeaways

• In 2021, about 36 million people used amphetamines, 22 million used cocaine and 20 million ecstasy-type substances. 

• Women tended to use amphetamine-type stimulants and non-medical pharmaceuticals more often than men though males use 75% more opiates and 73% more cocaine than females. 

• In 2021, 5.3% of 15–16-year-olds worldwide (13.5 million individuals) used

• cannabis in the prior year. 

• Opioids continue to be among the group of substances causing the most harm, including fatal overdoses. Nearly 70% of the 128,000 deaths attributed to drug use disorder in 2019 were caused by opioids. 

• Approximately 60 million people used non-medical opioids in 2021, out of whom 31.5 million used opiates – mainly heroin. 

United Nations And Cannabis, War On Drugs

In 2020, The United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs removed marijuana from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended all forms of THC to be removed from the drug convention of 1961, placing it with cannabis in Schedule 1, the least restrictive classification by UN standards. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical cannabis medications have been placed in Schedule 3.

A UN report from September calls on member nations to adopt a public health-centered approach instead of punitive drug control policies. The report highlighted that treating drug use as a criminal matter only worsens the damage it causes.

"Laws, policies and practices deployed to address drug use must not end up exacerbating human suffering. The drug problem remains very concerning, but treating people who use drugs as criminals is not the solution," stated Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

"States should move away from the current dominant focus on prohibition, repression and punishment," he said, "and instead embrace laws, policies and practices anchored in human rights and aimed at harm reduction."

Photo: Benzinga edit with images by cottonbro studio and RDNE Stock project via Pexels