The World Drug Report presents comprehensive information on the illicit drug situation. It provides detailed estimates and trends on production, trafficking and consumption in the opium/heroin, coca/cocaine, cannabis and amphetamine-type stimulants markets.

The drug problem is being contained but there are warning signs that the stabilisation which has occurred over the last few years could be in danger. Notable amongst these is the increase in both opium poppy and coca cultivation in 2007,some growth in consumption in developing countries and some development of new trafficking patterns. There have also been encouraging contractions in some of the main consumer markets.

This year, almost one hundred years since the Shanghai Opium Commission in 1909, the Report presents an historical review of the development of the international drug control system.

INTRODUCTION
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is a global leader in the multilateral effort against illicit drugs and international crime. The three pillars of its work programme are:

• Research and analytical work to increase knowledge and understanding of drugs and crime issues and expand the evidence-base for policy and operational decisions;

• Normative work to assist States in the ratifi cation and implementation of the international treaties, the development of domestic legislation on drugs, crime and terrorism, and the provision of secretariat and substantive services to the treaty-based and governing bodies; and

• Field-based technical cooperation projects to enhance the capacity of States Members to counteract illicit drugs, crime and terrorism.

Recognizing the importance of comprehensive, factual and objective information in the field of international drug control, as well as the need to improve the evidence base available for policy making, the General Assembly entrusted UNODC with the mandate to publish “comprehensive and balanced information about the world drug problem” in 1998. UNODC has published such assessments annually since 1999.

This year, the Report retains the one-volume format introduced in 2007. Under the more synthetic format, the detailed seizures tables are available on UNODC’s website. A PDF file containing the detailed seizure tables is available for review and downloading at: www.unodc.org.

The detailed seizure tables are also available on CD by request. CDs can be ordered via the following e-mail address: RAS@unodc.org

The Report continues to provide in depth trend analysis of the four main drug markets in its first section. In addition, to mark the one hundred year anniversary of the Shanghai Opium Commission, and one hundred years of international drug control, the Report contains an in-depth look at the development of the international drug control system. The Report also contains a small statistical annex which provides a detailed look at production, prices and consumption.

As in previous years, the present Report is based on data obtained primarily from the annual reports questionnaire (ARQ) sent by Governments to UNODC in 2007, supplemented by other sources when necessary and where available. Two of the main limitations herein are: (i) that ARQ reporting is not systematic enough, both in terms of number of countries responding and of content, and (ii) that most countries lack the adequate monitoring systems required to produce reliable, comprehensive and internationally comparable data. National monitoring systems are, however, improving and UNODC has contributed to this process.

Electronic copies of the World Drug Report 2008 Report can be accessed via www.unodc.org.
Comments and feedback on the Report are welcome and can be sent to: RAS@unodc.org.

Visit World Drug Report 2008 Download Page

You can download full report in PDF format.

United Nations
Office on Drug and Crime
www.unodc.org
Vienna International Centre, PO Box 500, A 1400 Vienna, Austria
Tel: +(43) (1) 26060-0, Fax: +(43) (1) 26060-5866.

CONTENTS
Preface 1
Introduction 3
Explanatory notes 5
Executive Summary 7
1. TRENDS IN WORLD DRUG MARKETS
1.1 Overview
1.1.1 Global evolution 25
1.1.2 Global outlook 34
1.2 Opium / Heroin market
1.2.1 Summary Trend Overview 37
1.2.2 Production 38
1.2.3 Trafficking 45
1.2.4 Consumption 55
1.3 Coca / Cocaine market
1.3.1 Summary Trend Overview 65
1.3.2 Production 66
1.3.3 Trafficking 72
1.3.4 Consumption 84
1.4 Cannabis market
1.4.1 Summary Trend Overview 95
1.4.2 Production 96
1.4.3 Trafficking 102
1.4.4 Consumption 111
1.5 Amphetamine-type stimulants market
1.5.1 Summary Trend Overview 123
1.5.2 Production 124
1.5.3 Trafficking 137
1.5.4 Consumption 153
2. A CENTURY OF INTERNATIONAL DRUG CONTROL
2.1 Origins: The development of the opium problem in China 173
2.2 The foundation of an international drug control system 177
2.3 Drug control under the League of Nations, 1920-1945 192
2.4 Development of the present system under the United Nations 196
2.5 Achievements and unintended consequences of the international drug control system 212

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. Trends in World Markets
1.1 Overview
The long-term stabilization of world drug markets continued into 2007, although notable exceptions occurred in some critical areas. As long term trends are obviously more meaningful and indicative than short term fluctuations, these limited reversals do not appear to negate the containment of the drug markets recorded since the late 1990s.

On the supply side, despite cultivation increases for both coca and opiates in 2007, the overall level of cultivation remained below the one recorded at the beginning of the UNGASS process (1998) and well below annual peaks in the last two decades (1991 for opium and 2000 for coca). In 2007, opium cultivation increased in both Afghanistan and Myanmar: coupled with higher yields, especially in southern Afghanistan, this generated much greater world output. With regard to cocaine, cultivation increased in Bolivia, Peru and especially Colombia, but yields declined, so production remained stable.

On the demand side, despite an apparent increase in the absolute number of cannabis, cocaine and opiates users, annual prevalence levels have remained stable in all drug markets. In other words, as the number of people who have used a particular drug at least once in the past 12 months has risen at about the same rate as population, drug consumption has remained stable in relative terms.

Given these yearly changes, the containment of world drug markets - recorded in these reports over the last few years - appears confirmed but under strain. Further consolidation, in 2008 and beyond, will mean tightening overall market containment and addressing slippage in areas where some expansion was registered in 2007. On the supply side this dictates two critical priorities: lowering opium poppy cultivation, especially in Afghanistan; and returning to the path of steadily declining coca cultivation registered in the first few years of this century.

On the demand side, more effectively containing the number of drug users, particularly in developing countries, has to become a critical priority; and more attention should be given to prevention, treatment and reducing the negative consequences of drug abuse. Rich countries' drugs markets fluctuate, mostly sideways and occasionally downwards: it is equally important to nurture and fortify the downward trend.

The containment of illicit drug use to less than 5% of the world population aged 15 to 64 (based on annual prevalence estimates, see Figure below) is a considerable achievement, documented historically in the pages of this report. The achievement is manifest on the two scales of time considered here: the century since the beginnings of the international drug control system (the subject of Chapter 2); or the decade since UNGASS in 1998.

In general, containment of the illicit drug problem to a relatively small fraction of the world population (aged 15 to 64) begins to look like an even more important achievement when considered in the light of three other estimates. First, problem drug use has been contained to a marginal fraction of the world population (0.6%) aged 15 to 64. Secondly, the consumption of tobacco, an addictive, psychoactive drug that is sold widely in open, albeit regulated markets, affects as much as 25% of the world adult population. Thirdly, mortality statistics show that illicit drugs take a small fraction of the lives claimed by tobacco (about 200,000 a year for illicit drugs versus about 5 million a year for tobacco).

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