Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Monica Juma: Message for the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

UNIS/NAR/1508
26 June 2026

Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Monica Juma:

26 June 2026

The illicit drug trade persists, and its imprint is visible everywhere.

In the harm it causes, the violence it unleashes, the healthcare gaps it exposes, and the millions of lives it erodes.

In 2024, 331 million people used drugs - 34 per cent more than a decade ago - while 63 million people were suffering from drug use disorders worldwide.

Among them, too many still cannot access the treatment and care they need, especially women, young people, and the most vulnerable.

And still the drug market itself is rapidly evolving.

Critically, the illicit synthetic drug market is expanding, becoming easier to manufacture and harder to detect, while moving closer to consumer markets across all regions of the world.

The number of new psychoactive substances on the global market has reached a record high, with some being highly potent and extremely harmful.

Organized criminal groups are in turn adapting, shifting away from plant-based opiates toward synthetics, with global consequences.

The cocaine market, meanwhile, continues to set new records, as traffickers search for new routes, new methods, and new vulnerabilities to move their product and meet growing demand.

These persistent challenges and the evolving threats require us to rethink and readjust our responses.

We must strengthen cooperation by sharing intelligence faster, coordinating joint operations more closely, and pursuing drug traffickers in the digital space.

We must use data, science and technology to anticipate and respond quicker to emerging drug threats.

We must invest in alternative livelihoods, as well as prevention, treatment and recovery-oriented harm reduction.

Above all, our response must remain anchored in the international drug conventions and relevant international law, human rights commitments, and the spirit of multilateralism they embody.

On this International Day, let us confront the world drug problem together, guided by our collective responsibility to build a safer, healthier and more dignified world for all of humanity.

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