Brussels, 28/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - The 2004 Annual Report on Drugs published on 24 June by the United Nations anti-drug and crime office (UNDCO) notes a slight improvement in the global drug situation, particularly in Europe. The use of drugs is now growing at the slowest rate in fifty years (during which drug use increased consistently and massively). Thomas Pietschmann of UNDCO's research office noted in a press release in Brussels that cannabis use is still shooting up. Cannabis is consumed as two separate products (leaves or marijuana and resin or hashish). It is the most widely used drug in the world. Western Europe is the biggest market for hashish in the world.
The report welcomes the relatively small proportion of drug users in the world, estimated at 185 million people, 3% of the world population and 4.7% of 15 to 64 year olds. Specialists say this reveals that the spread of drugs is being held back, particularly is one compares these figures with cigarette smoking (30% of the world's population smokes cigarettes). Another encouraging sign is the significant fall in drug abuse related deaths, a fall of nearly 20% in Western Europe between 2000 and 2002.
The report was published the day before the international anti-drug abuse and smuggling day, whose message for 2004 is that treating drug addiction works. The slogan has a double meaning, notes UNDOC manager Antonio Maria Costa, commenting that it is the promise of help and hope of a better future for drug users and their families, but it is also the promise of long-term benefits for all of society.