Every 26 June the world pauses for the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, better known as World Drug Day. The 2025 campaign could not be more explicit, urging everyone to “invest in prevention, break the cycle, stop organized crime.” The slogan sums up a hard reality: transnational networks are using the drug trade to bankroll violence, corruption and insecurity in every region.

UNODC’s fresh World Drug Report sets the scale of the challenge. An estimated 316 million people – six percent of the global adult population – used an illicit drug in 2023, up from 5.2 percent a decade ago. Cannabis tops the list at 244 million users, followed by opioids (61 million), amphetamines (30.7 million), cocaine (25 million) and ecstasy (21 million). Cocaine production alone hit a record 3,708 tons, and user numbers have jumped by almost half in ten years, making it the fastest growing illicit market.

These figures are symptoms of deeper structural problems. In conflict-affected and fragile zones, traffickers exploit weak institutions, recruit vulnerable populations and blend drug profits with other crimes such as human trafficking, illegal mining and large-scale online fraud. The synthetic drug boom compounds the threat: cheap precursor chemicals allow methamphetamine, amphetamine and powerful new opioids to be manufactured almost anywhere, overwhelming police and health systems alike. The environmental toll – from deforestation for coca fields to toxic waste from clandestine laboratories – rarely features in mainstream drug debates but is increasingly severe.

UNODC is clear that seizures and arrests, while necessary, are not sufficient. Sustainable progress hinges on long-term investment in proven prevention programmes, accessible treatment and recovery services, quality education, fair justice systems and alternative livelihoods for communities now trapped in illicit economies. Funding those pillars, arming courts and customs with modern tracing tools and giving civil-society organisations real influence can turn the evidence into action. The data leave little doubt, and neither should we: coordinated, prevention-centred strategies can dismantle criminal networks, protect public health and build the resilient communities this day calls for.

Find more from UNODC (June 2025)