A new study has revealed that approximately 284 million people, or 5.6% of the world's population, took drugs in the previous year.
A UN report released on Monday said places that have legalized cannabis, such as US states, appear to have increased its regular use, and COVID-19 lockdowns had a similar impact, increasing the risk of despair and suicide.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), cannabis has long been the most commonly used drug in the world, and consumption is rising even as commercial cannabis is becoming more potent in terms of its tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content.
Several U.S. states have legalized cannabis usage for recreational purposes, beginning in 2012 with Washington and Colorado. In 2013, Uruguay legalized it, and Canada followed suit in 2018. Others have made the same decisions, but the report concentrated on just three nations.
"Cannabis legalization appears to have accelerated the upwards trends in reported daily use of the drug," the Vienna-based UNODC's report said.
While the prevalence of cannabis use among teenagers "has not changed much", there had been "a pronounced increase in reported frequent use of high-potency products among young adults", it said.
"The proportion of people with psychiatric disorders and suicides associated with regular cannabis use has increased."
Approximately 284 million people, or 5.6% of the world's population, had used a narcotic like heroin, cocaine, amphetamines, or ecstasy in the previous year in 2020, according to the analysis, which used the most recent data available. Of those, 209 million used cannabis.
"Periods of lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic drove increases in the use of cannabis ... in 2020," it said.
Cocaine production reached a record high in 2020, and trafficking by sea is on the rise, the report continued, with seizure data from 2021 suggesting an extension of the drug's distribution outside its two primary markets of North America and Europe into Africa and Asia.
The report indicated that fentanyl caused a new high for US overdose deaths in 2021, with a preliminary estimate of 107,622. Opioids continue to be the deadliest medications.
On the other hand, with legislation expected later this year, the German government is now moving forward with plans to legalize the selling of cannabis for recreational use.
The German Health Ministry announced that it will begin hosting expert hearings on various facets of the problem. More than 200 people from the medical, legal, and other professions, as well as representatives from various governmental levels and unnamed foreign specialists, were listed as participating.
