NCJ Number
223294
Date Published
June 2008
Length
310 pages
Annotation
This annual report provides a comprehensive global overview of the prevalence and trends in the world drug market and development of an international drug control system to combat and contain the world drug problem.
Abstract
Highlights of the report include: (1) the total area under opium cultivation rose to 235,700 ha in 2007; (2) Afghanistan accounts for 82 percent of world opium cultivation; (3) only seizures for cannabis herb and the opiates grew year on year in 2006; (4) seizures of opium and morphine grew 10 percent and 31 percent respectively in 2006; (5) the proportion of drug users in the world population aged 15 to 64 has remained stable for the fourth straight year; (6) with the exception of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS), each drug market has seen some increase in the absolute numbers of drug users, but prevalence rates, where they have increased, have only done so marginally; (7) the area under opium cultivation in Afghanistan rose by 17 percent in 2007 to 193,000 ha; (8) the total area under coca cultivation in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru increased 16 percent to 181,600 ha; and (9) cannabis continues to dominate the world’s illicit drug markets in terms of pervasiveness of cultivation, volume of production, and number of consumers. The long-term stabilization of world drug markets continued in 2007. The international drug control system remains a work in progress, adapting to address changing global circumstances and producing some unintended consequences, such as (1) a lucrative and violent black market, (2) enforcement efforts in one geographic area resulting in diversion of the problem to other areas, and (3) pressure on the market for one substance inadvertently promoting the use of an alternate drug. In depth trend analysis continues to be reported on the four man drug markets (opium/heroin, coca/cocaine, cannabis, and amphetamine-type stimulants) containing information on production, trafficking, and consumption. Tables and figures