Director-General/Executive Director
Your Excellency Minister Ibrahim,
Distinguished Participants,
I am very pleased to join you today to open this side event addressing the impact of drugs across the health, security, and socioeconomic spheres.
I am deeply grateful to Singapore for joining UNODC in promoting a comprehensive understanding of drug challenges through this event.
Singapore is always an active and constructive player at the CND, and I am glad to see them engage positively once again at this session.
Excellencies,
It is evident to all of us that the harms of drugs are palpable and devastating.
We estimate that more than 60 million people around the world suffer from drug use disorders.
And we estimate that in 2022, nearly half a million deaths were attributed to drug use, and drug use accounted for more than 27 million healthy years of life lost.
These facts have rightly been front and centre of our discourse, including here at the CND.
But it is equally important to have a holistic understanding of the harms, which go well beyond these tragic numbers.
The impact of drugs resonates in public safety and security.
We see this on the community level, with small but heartbreaking stories of loved ones lost and families torn apart.
And we see it on the national and regional scale, as drug trafficking continues to drive violence and homicide rates from Latin America to Europe, in some cases undermining state sovereignty.
In some parts of the world, organized crime groups involved in the drug trade operate complex criminal enterprises that keep entire communities trapped in poverty and insecurity, propagate exploitation and environmental damage, and victimize people around the globe.
The impact of drugs also resonates in justice outcomes.
Given the magnitude of drug trafficking and its linkages with other forms of organized crime, criminal justice is a critical component of effective drug responses.
But it is important to ensure that criminal justice responses are evidence-based and focused on the health and wellbeing of people and societies.
In 2022, almost 7 million people around the world were in contact with the criminal justice system for drug-related offenses, underlining the importance of fair and effective justice systems where everyone is equal before the law.
Which brings me to my next point:
We must recognize that the impact of drugs does not resonate equally in different segments of society, or among all people who use drugs.
People who are marginalized or disadvantaged are more vulnerable to drug use, more likely to find themselves trapped in harmful drug use patterns, and far less likely to have access to the treatment that they need.
Globally, only one in eleven people with drug use disorders have access to treatment, and those numbers start skewing even heavier when you look at groups like women or the poor.
Excellencies,
To develop a fuller understanding of drug harms, we must start adapting in how we gather data and conduct research on drug issues.
I am very proud that UNODC’s next World Drug Report will be looking comprehensively at the adverse impacts of drug use, dedicating a chapter to this topic, and I want to thank Singapore for supporting us on this important endeavour.
The World Drug Report is the global resource on drugs issues.
We must use it as a platform to understand the dynamics and complexities of drugs issues, and to look deeper into the challenges we face.
Only by clearly seeing the problem in all of its dimensions, and clearly seeing every person affected, can we ensure responses are impactful, sustainable, and inclusive.
Thank you, and I wish you a successful event.
