Age profiles of people in drug-related treatment vary widely across regions and subregions.Limited data suggest wide regional differences in the age distribution of people in treatment for drug use disorders.Globally, two main patterns emerge: in Central Asia and Transcaucasia, Western and Central…
In South-Eastern Europe, and Western and Central Europe, amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) use and health harm remain mainly linked to amphetamine and are relatively low compared to other regions.Amphetamines are the third most common stimulant drugs group in Europe after cocaine and “ecstasy”.…
Methamphetamine and other ATS remain the leading substances for which people seek drug treatment in East and South-East Asia.The number of people receiving treatment for ATS use, mainly methamphetamine, has remained stable or declined in the majority of reporting countries – with the exception of…
ATS seizures reached a new record high in 2024, dominated by methamphetamine.
Availability of internationally controlled pharmaceutical opioids for medical use has stabilized in recent years.Availability of pharmaceutical opioids for medical use more than doubled between 1998 and 2024 – driven by a strong increase until 2013, followed by a decline and partial recovery in…
There remains a large discrepancy between the Global North and the Global South in the availability of internationally controlled pharmaceutical opioids for medical use - even though the gap is declining.Between 2015 and 2024, the per capita availability of pharmaceutical opioids for medical use in…
The synthetic drugs market in the Near and Middle East remains dynamic, following disruptions in the supply of “captagon”.The Near and Middle East accounted for 77 per cent of global “captagon” seizures in 2020–2024, with production mainly in the Syrian Arab Republic and Lebanon and trafficking…
The use of amphetamines has distinct regional patterns; past-year use is generally higher among men (0.85 per cent) than women (0.34 per cent) globally.The largest markets for ATS, mainly methamphetamine, remain East and South-East Asia and North America. The highest past-year use of amphetamines…
Though overall drug sales via the dark web appear to be rather resilient, darknet markets are highly volatile and frequently appear only to disappear quickly.Unlike major e-commerce platforms on the clear net, darknet marketplaces typically have short lifespans – averaging just 1 year and 4 months…
Darknet sales, mostly drug related, increased to around US$2.5 billion in 2025 – and are increasingly driven by wholesale sales while the bulk of retail online sales takes place on social media.
Darknet market sales (mostly drug-related) reached some US…
More countries perceived an increase in drug-related deaths in 2024 than a decrease.Toxicological findings reported by 66 countries suggest that opioids are by far the most common substance involved in direct drug-related deaths, with cocaine now ranking second after overtaking (albeit by a small…
Heroin and morphine seizures remain concentrated in Asia.In line with the concentration of opium production in Asia, almost two thirds (64 per cent) of global heroin and morphine seizures occurred in Asia in 2024, notably in South-Western Asia and, to a lesser extent, in East and South-East Asia.In…
