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…
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…
Seizures of key pharmaceutical opioids show distinct regional patterns by substance.While fentanyl seizures remain overwhelmingly concentrated in North America (> 99 per cent), other pharmaceutical opioids dominate seizures in different regions: codeine in West and Central Africa and South Asia…
Global opioid use has remained broadly stable, with strong regional differences in prevalence of use.The number of people who use opioids worldwide has remained relatively stable in the last five years, with the estimate for 2024 only slightly higher than the level in 2019.Prevalence of past-year…
Global opiate use has remained broadly stable, with slight declines in the prevalence of use.The number of people using opiates worldwide has remained stable over the last five years, while the annual prevalence of use declined slightly from 0.61 per cent in 2020 to 0.57 per cent in 2023 and 2024.…
Global illicit opium production remained more than 70 per cent below 2022 levels in 2025Global illicit opium production remained at lower levels in 2025 at 2,100 tons, more than 70 per cent below 2022 (mainly due to Afghanistan’s opium ban) and almost 80 per cent below its 2017 peak.A doubling of…
The global NPS market continues to evolve rapidly, with new substances entering the market and shifting preferences.By 2025, the total number of NPS identified by Member States since 2005 grew close to 1,500 which – despite the scheduling of new substances in 2025 – is more than four times the…
While a decade ago most ketamine was trafficked across South and East and South-East Asia, such trafficking has diversified to other subregions including in Asia, Europe, the Americas and Africa.Ketamine seizures have increased over the last two decades and increased sharply between 2018 and 2022…
In the last decade, the illicit market of ketamine has expanded outside of East and South-East Asia where it was previously concentrated.In mid to late 2010s, several countries with time-series data (for example, the United Kingdom, Australia, or the general population of the United States) have…
Myanmar is now the world’s largest opium producer, followed by Afghanistan, Mexico and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.In Myanmar, opium production continues to be concentrated in the eastern parts of the country, notably in Shan State and in Kachin. This pattern has not changed over the last…
Seven substances dominate the global availability of opioids under international control for medical consumption.Expressed in S-DDDs (defined daily doses for statistical purposes), methadone, followed by hydrocodone, fentanyl, buprenorphine, oxycodone, codeine (including preparations) and morphine…
