Drug addiction is a major problem in the world, and these 17 countries with the biggest drug problems in the world are leading the way.
According to the United Nations Drug Office on Drugs and Crime report for 2017, 29.5 million people around the world suffer from drug use disorders. Beware that this number refers only to those people who suffer from drug-related disorders and not the number of drug users. Opioids are the most harmful type of drug, accounted for 70% of negative health impact associated with drugs. “Opioids” is a term used for the entire family of opiates including synthetic and natural opioids. Opiates cover a large range of drugs, some of which can be legally acquired. Examples of opiate include heroin, morphine, oxycodone, codeine, etc.
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Although drug free countries don’t really exist, drug consumption varies from country to country. Drug Abuse website compiled a list of countries with harshest laws for drug possession, and one might expect that these countries could be least drug addicted countries in the world, but still some of them appeared on our list of most drug addicted countries in the world. Countries with biggest drug problems usually involve countries that produce large amounts of drugs which means that drugs in these countries are easier to get and the prices can be much lower. To find out which countries produce most drugs, take a look at our list of countries that produce the most illegal drugs in the world. Statistics vary from city to city as well, and most drug addicted cities are scattered all around the world. We’ve compiled the list of top 20 most addicted, drug infested cities in America in 2017, using the newest data for the territory of the US. In India, for example, the most drug addicted cities are located in Punjab where four out of ten men are addicted to drugs. Top drug trafficking city in this country is Mumbai, immediately followed by the capital, New Delhi.
How did we compile this list? The starting point was the already mentioned Insider Monkey’s list of most drug addicted countries in the world and since our today’s list is a bit longer, additional research was necessary. We consulted United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) website and their World Drug Report for 2017 as well as the World Drug Report for 2016. We also took a look at the interactive map of drug (ab)use around the world which was also compiled based on UNODC data. We isolated the countries with highest drug abuse and added them to our list as well. Countries are ranked according to data on people treated for drug abuse per million (found on the above-mentioned interactive map). However, these numbers should not be treated as absolute facts and something unchangeable, although it served well as a factor according to which we can rank countries on our list of 17 countries with the biggest drug problems in the world. Pay attention to the ranking of the countries since some countries (according to this data) are ranked low on the list although they are well-known for drug wars, cartels and large production of opioids. This is one more reason to question any published data since it is very hard to get accurate data from developing countries. We warned you, you might be surprised. Let’s take a look at the list now.
