Drug Abuse & Demand Reduction

Drug abuse is a global phenomenon. It effects almost every country, although its extent and characteristics differ from region to region. Drug abuse trends around the world, especially among youth, have started to converge over the last few decades.The most widely consumed drug worldwide is cannabis. Three-quarters of all countries report abuse of heroin and two-thirds report abuse of cocaine. Drug-related problems include increased rates of crime and violence, susceptibility to HIV/AIDS and hepatitis, demand for treatment and emergency room visits and a breakdown in social behaviour.Demand reduction strategies seek to prevent the onset of drug use, help drug users break the habit and provide treatment through rehabilitation and social reintegration.At the 1998 UN General Assembly special session on the world drug problem, Member States recognized that reducing the demand for drugs was an essential pillar in the stepped-up global effort to fight drug abuse and trafficking. They committed themselves to reduce significantly both the supply of and demand for drugs by 2008, as expressed in the Political Declaration on the Guiding Principles of Drug Demand Reduction