UNITED NATIONS – INTERNATIONAL DRUG TRENDS

Synopsis of Executive Summary

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) describes worldwide drug trends in its report for 2008. The report discusses production, consumption, and trafficking of opium, cocaine, marijuana, and amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS). The report’s executive summary gives an overview of the drug market and gives statistics developed internally and from national compilations.

Production of drugs around the world remains stable (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime).  The production of opium poppies increased in Afghanistan and Myanmar.  The acreage committed to cocaine production increased but there was less coca plants grown, despite the increase in land committed to production.  The production of marijuana and hashish decreased slightly but the average potency of these drugs continued to increase. ATS production stayed about the same as previous years although there was some change (increases and decreases) of the different types of stimulants.

The average per capita consumption of these drugs remained consistent; about 4.8% of the world population consumed drugs. Marijuana was the most popular drug consumed with about 491% more people consuming cannabis than the next most popular drug, amphetamines.  Per capita use of cocaine and opiates followed closely behind amphetamine use with .4% of the world’s population using cocaine, and .4% of the world’s population using opiates.

The UNODC report describes trafficking in terms of contraband seized. The report does not state if changes in the capture of illegal drugs occurred because of expenditures on enforcement. The report also does not state if it used the statistics for capture of drugs as a variable for the estimates of production and consumption. Capture of marijuana increased in the year 2006 but it was the only drug monitored that had increased rates of capture. Hashish captures however, decreased. National governments confiscated increased amounts of opiates although they seized approximately the same amount of heroin as they did in 2005.  The seizure of cocaine products dropped as did most categories of ATS although the overall category of ATS showed an increase of seizures of 2%. The report does not break out the categories of cocaine into plants, crack, or powered cocaine.

The executive summary says very little about how it derived its estimates for production or consumption. The report does mention the cultivation increase of cocaine and opium poppies so it is likely that satellite photography formed a basis for the estimate of the production of these crops. The report’s executive summary does not state how it derived its estimates for consumption of illegal drugs. It is unfortunate that the sources and method for the estimates have not been provided as UNODC has an institutional bias to show consumption to drop or remain flat. The report does show main problem drugs from surveys of people in treatment and Government reports, however many people in treatment are there because they were caught and the treatment is part of the judicial process; so the numbers to some extent reflect expenditures on law enforcement and not actual consumption of illegal drugs. Trafficking figures come from law enforcement successes and so those numbers must have the best basis in fact.  However, these numbers should be qualified by stating perceived rates of corruption and changes of expenditure on law enforcement.

Synopsis of Section 1.4 The Cannabis Market

The worldwide production of marijuana has declined since it peak year of 2004. Production from the American continent (from Canada in the north to Argentina in the south) accounted for more than half of the total global production. The American continent and Western Africa produced more than three quarters of the world’s supply. Most of the production was consumed locally or regionally.  The UNODC report stated that Moroccan hashish production had declined significantly and the Afghan hashish production had stabilized.

The UNODC report stated that Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content in marijuana produced in the United States (US) was almost twice the concentration that it had been in 1999 and the likely cause for such an increase was hydroponic cultivation of the crop indoors.  The report did not state if hashish had also increased its THC content.

Confiscation of cannabis products by law enforcement officials declined sharply over the period of 2005 to 2006. US and Mexican captures comprised over half the worldwide confiscation of the products.

The UNODC report describes cannabis usage as the predominant form of illegal drug consumption. Per capita usage worldwide averages about 4% with the States of Oceania averaging 14.5% and the US averaging 10.5%.  Africa, particularly Central and Western Africa had the next highest level of per capita consumption. The report stated that usage was fairly stable in Western Europe and the US but had been reduced somewhat in the States of Oceania, and had increased dramatically in Africa and South America.

The UNODC report did not mention if the decriminalization efforts in certain States within the US and other nations around the world had effectively increased consumption in those countries. Notably in Canada where medical marijuana is available and court rulings have invalidated criminal penalties, the report shows that consumption has remained unchanged since these events have occurred.

The report does not give its methods for estimating either usage or consumption and shows constant (neither either increasing or decreasing) usage in Nations that have reduced or eliminated criminal sanctions for possession of cannabis products.  The report would increase its effectiveness if it provided its methods for estimation so the assumptions could be examined by statisticians and other experts. Since the report does not give the methods for estimation, and the results seem counter to the expectation that reductions in criminal sanctions would increase consumption and production, the reported results do not have the powerful weight expected from a prestigious international institution.

1           Works Cited
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. “http://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2008/.” 9 September 2008. http://www.unodc.org. 1 December 2008 <http://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2008/WDR_2008_eng_web.pdf>.