UNODC World Drug Report 2023 warns of converging crises as illicit drug markets continue to expand

Continued record illicit drug supply and increasingly agile trafficking networks are compounding intersecting global crises and challenging health services and law enforcement responses, according to the World Drug Report 2023 launched by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Read More …

UNODC: Synthetic Drugs in East and Southeast Asia – Latest developments and challenges

East and Southeast Asia’s drug market has been marked by a decade of growth in the production and trafficking of synthetic drugs, particularly methamphetamine – a trend that continues. The region has also experienced an expansion in the production and Read More …

Trafficking in the Sahel: Guns, gas, and gold

In the first of a series of features exploring the fight against trafficking in the Sahel, UN News takes a closer look at what’s behind the growth of the phenomenon. A tangled trafficking web has been woven across the Sahel, Read More …

UNODC: Opium poppy cultivation estimates increase in Myanmar in 2022

In its newest survey on opium cultivation in Myanmar, released in Bangkok today, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates poppy cultivation to have increased by 33 per cent in comparison to the previous season. The results Read More …

UNDOC: Opium cultivation in Afghanistan

Since the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in August 2021, opium cultivation increased by 32%, or 56,000 hectares, compared to the previous year. This represents the third largest area under cultivation since the beginning of systematic monitoring. The area Read More …

Amid Covid-19, Rising Tide of Narcotics Trafficking from Pakistan Feeds Jihadist Upsurge in Indian Ocean

Islamic State cells in the Maldives, known to have close links with Indian Ocean drug cartels, have over the past eight weeks staged multiple attacks, including bomb strikes on police boats. Fears are mounting that a surge in narcotics shipments Read More …