The UN Office on Drugs and Crime released the UN World Drug Report 2026 on June 26, 2026. The report indicates an increase in global drug use, a rise in new psychoactive substances, and shifts in drug production.

An estimated 331 million people used drugs in 2024, which constituted 6.2 percent of the world's population aged 15 to 64. A decade prior to 2024, 5.2 percent of this demographic reported drug use. Cannabis was the most widely used drug in 2024, with 256 million users. Opioids had 63 million users, amphetamines 32 million, cocaine 25 million, and ecstasy 21 million users in 2024.

Authorities identified 755 new psychoactive substances in 2024, with 118 reported for the first time. The number of different drugs detected in seizures in 2024 was five times higher than before the year 2000. "We have seen an unprecedented spike in new types of drugs on the market, and worryingly, some are more potent or dangerous than before," said Monica Juma, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Chloé Carpentier, lead researcher for the UN World Drug Report 2026, added, "The market is becoming very diverse, but also perhaps more dangerous."

Carpentier stated, "We don't always know what we are taking, and first responders don't know what they are responding to." She identified nitazenes as a current concern, saying, "We see a lot of nitazenes now." Carpentier further stated, "The worry is really that synthetic opioids might replace heroin and lead to much more harm."

Opium production trends have shifted. While Afghanistan produced over 6,000 tonnes of opium in 2022 before banning opium cultivation that year, Myanmar's opium production, which was 420 tonnes in 2021, exceeded 1,000 tonnes in 2025. Seizures of methamphetamine have increased by an average of 13 percent annually. Cocaine production surpassed 4,000 tonnes of pure product in 2024.

Between 2015 and 2024, 57 countries and territories outside North America identified the region as a source of seized cannabis. During the decade prior to 2015, 11 countries and territories outside North America reported the region as a source. Regarding treatment for drug use disorders, only one in 23 women receives treatment globally, compared to one in nine men. Women who inject drugs are 20 percent more likely to be living with HIV than men who inject drugs.