Director-General/Executive Director
(Delivered on her behalf)
Distinguished Chair,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a pleasure to address you today at the final intersessional of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in 2023.
As we prepare to draw the curtain on this year’s discussions, I’m confident that your contributions will lay a strong foundation for the 2024 mid-term review of international drug policy commitments.
In our meeting last October, you delved into the challenges associated with organized crime, the criminal misuse of ICTs, and the supply side of the illicit drug market.
Today, you will be turning your attention to issues more closely related to the demand side of the world drug problem.
As complex and technical as drug-related issues may be, we must recognize that, at their core, they are ultimately human issues that directly impact the health and well-being of people.
Of individuals who have succumbed to drug use disorders.
Of families torn apart after losing loved ones to drugs.
And of communities grappling with inequality, poverty, and violence caused by drug traffickers and their product.
Wherever we look in the world today, drug use is on the rise, and it is people who are suffering.
According to the latest World Drug Report, close to 300 million people used drugs in 2021, 23 percent more than a decade ago.
Almost half a million people tragically lost their lives to drug use in 2019, representing a 17.5 percent increase compared to 2009.
The threat of synthetic drugs is accelerating rapidly.
Opioids in particular remain a leading cause of fatal overdoses, accounting for nearly 70 percent of deaths attributed to drug use disorders.
In the United States of America alone, the opioid crisis claimed over 100,000 lives in 2022.
Methamphetamine use has expanded in South-East Asia, and the non-medical use of tramadol continues to cause harm in Africa.
Worldwide, more than 60 million individuals are estimated to be using non-medical opioids, driving an epidemic of global proportions.
Meanwhile, the sharing of needles among people who inject drugs is feeding into parallel global epidemics – those of HIV/AIDS and viral hepatitis.
An estimated 13.2 million people injected drugs in 2021, of which 1.6 million were living with HIV and 6.6 million with hepatitis C, with women being at higher risk of contracting these infections than men.
94 countries now have at least one functioning needle and syringe programme, while 88 countries have at least one functioning opioid agonist therapy programme, and the provision of naloxone for overdose prevention and management has also increased.
However, the scale of many of these programmes remains far below the threshold needed to adequately cover the global population of people who use drugs.
In the face of these rising health challenges, those in need of treatment and services face persistent barriers.
Globally, only one in five individuals suffering from drug use disorders is able to receive drug treatment.
The marginalized and vulnerable segments of society are most affected by this accessibility gap, further exacerbating the social and health disparities that we must overcome.
Women, for example, account for almost one in two amphetamine users, yet only one in four receives the necessary treatment, as a result of stigma, discrimination, and a lack of investment in gender-responsive services.
Young people are more vulnerable to start using drugs than adults, making it imperative that we reach out to children and adolescents in the early stages of their life, to help guide them on a path away from drugs.
The UNODC Youth Forum at the CND earlier this year allowed us to hear directly from young people, who provided new ideas on how to promote healthier lifestyles among youth and to shape international drug policy for the future.
We are also in the process of developing a new early prevention initiative called Children Amplified Prevention Services – or CHAMPS – which will seek to amplify the resilience of children from birth to adolescence, to prevent the use of drugs and other psychoactive substances, and I encourage the international community to join us in championing the healthy and safe development of children and youth.
This is part of our broader efforts to put people first in drug responses.
To prioritize public health and ensure equitable access to essential medicines.
To treat people with dignity and uphold their human rights, while eliminating the stigma associated with drug use disorders.
And to invest in voluntary, evidence-based interventions, which are more humane and more cost effective than incarceration or punitive measures.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime is committed to supporting Member States in their efforts to save lives and protect people’s health and wellbeing.
In 2023, our treatment, care, and rehabilitation initiatives reached an estimated 47,300 people with drug use disorders in 33 countries.
We trained more than 1,900 policy makers on evidence-based prevention and treatment strategies to address the needs of different population groups, including youth and women, and to eradicate the stigma they face in accessing health and social services.
Alongside this, UNODC technical support and advocacy efforts contributed to the initiation of Opioid Agonist Therapy in five countries this year alone.
We also reached 700 service providers and community-led organizations to establish and deliver evidence-based, high-quality Opioid Agonist Therapy services in 11 countries.
Meanwhile, our Synthetic Drugs Strategy continues to provide a balanced and comprehensive framework for science-informed health responses, recognizing the evolving nature of synthetic drugs and the need for tailored interventions.
Earlier this year, we also launched our first ever report on cocaine use, with potential new markets opening in Africa and Asia, where the potential for harm is greater amid reduced access to treatment.
To monitor these trends, we continue to collect data through our flagship World Drug Report, and we are actively looking to fine-tune our data collection methods.
We are providing capacity building to national data focal points around the world who collect and report data through the Annual Report Questionnaire, to ensure our data is as relevant and accurate as possible.
And we are monitoring new psychoactive substances, to ensure policies and regulations keep pace, after 87 newly identified substances entered the global market in 2021.
In parallel, and together with the World Health Organization, we are working to bridge the global pain divide, so that essential medicines can reach everyone, everywhere.
It is important to remember that 86 percent of the global population is believed to be living in countries without access to controlled medicines, and we need to do better to ensure that no one suffers needless pain, while avoiding diversion into the illicit market.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The international drug control conventions and all related policy commitments draw a clear path forward to address the world drug problem with compassion, putting people, their health, and their wellbeing first.
As we look ahead to the 2024 mid-term review, let us live up to those commitments and elevate our efforts to reach every person in need.
Thank you.