Summary

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) presents insights relating to global and regional trends in drug demand and supply and emerging issues and threats related to those in its annual flagship publication the “World Drug Report”. The latest report (2023) highlights a continued increase in drug use, with one in every 17 people worldwide using drugs in 2021. Additionally, one in seven people who use drugs suffer from drug use disorders, indicating a high burden of disease. However, there are clear regional differences in the demand and supply of drugs.

The World Drug Report aims to foster greater international cooperation to counter the impact of the world drug problem on health, governance, and security. It also assists Member States in anticipating and addressing challenges related to drug use and its health consequences that may arise in the future.

Learning Objectives

• The audience will be left with a deeper understanding of the extent, patterns, and trends in the use of drugs regionally as well as globally.
• In addition to discussing the prevalence, Dr. Niaz will focus on the shifting policy and research around the medical use of controlled substances, such as the changing landscape of medical use of cannabis and psychedelics.

Presenter Biography

Dr Kamran Niaz, is a public health physician with postgraduate training in public health and a major in epidemiology. Dr Niaz is currently working as the Senior Epidemiologist in the Research Branch, United Nations office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Austria.

For over 30 years, primarily with UNODC, his focus of work has been on epidemiology of substance use and HIV and AIDS among people who use drugs. He has also worked in the area of prevention of substance use and treatment of substance use disorders.

Over the past 25 years he has led the design and implementation of population-based surveys, studies, and assessments on drug use and health consequences in a number of low- and middle-income countries. Since 2010, he has been one of the main contributors to the UNODC flagship publication the World Drug Report covering topics such as recent policy developments and regulatory changes of some of the controlled substances.

Dr Niaz is a long-standing member of the American Public Health Association (APHA) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health (RSPH).