Cannabis continues to be the most widespread drug cultivated worldwide across all regions, cultivated in at least 155 countries (covering some 96 per cent of the global population). Opium poppy cultivation and the cultivation of the coca bush are far less widespread. Illicit opium poppy cultivation is found across all regions (though concentrated in just three countries: Myanmar, Afghanistan and Mexico) and coca bush cultivation is limited to a few countries in the Americas, with the bulk of coca bush cultivation reported from the Andean region (Colombia, Peru and the Plurinational State of Bolivia).
 
Global illicit coca bush cultivation continued to increase, reaching a record high of 385,100 ha in 2024 (almost three times the level a decade earlier). In contrast, the illicit cultivation of opium poppy remains at one of its lowest levels in decades (113,800 ha in 2025), 63 per cent below the figure of 2022, the last year prior to the implementation of Afghanistan’s opium poppy ban.