The increasing availability of synthetic opioids like fentanyls, nitazenes and orphines in the wake of the Taliban’s 2022 opium ban signals a ‘turning point’ in the global opioid market, according to the UNODC’s World drug report 2026.
Although other countries have increased their opium production – Myanmar’s has more than doubled to over 1,000 tons – this has not offset the declines in Afghanistan, which produced more than 6,000 tons in the year before the ban.
Traffickers had stockpiled large amounts of opium in anticipation of the ban, but stocks are believed to be finally dwindling – an assumption supported by survey data from Afghanistan showing that more men are ‘seeking treatment for problems with pharmaceutical opioids and sedatives and tranquillisers than with opiates, which had long dominated in the country,’ the report states.
The move from plant-based opiates towards synthetics could lead to a ‘permanent shift’ in the global opioid market, with consequences in terms of how the drugs are used and their harms, says UNODC. Traffickers are exploiting technologies and global instability to introduce new drugs, explore new trade rounds and expand into new markets, it continues.
More than 330m people are estimated to have used a drug in 2024, says the report – equating to 6.2 per cent of global 15-64-year-olds, and up from 5.2 per cent a decade before. Cannabis is by far the most widely used substance, at 256m users, followed by opioids (63m), amphetamines (32m), cocaine (25m) and MDMA (21m). The continuing growth in cocaine supply may soon ‘outstrip demand’, the report points out, with production quadrupling over the last decade, while new markets for methamphetamine have opened up in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere.
‘We have seen an unprecedented surge in new drugs on the market, and, concerningly, some are more potent or dangerous than before,’ said UNODC’s executive director Monica Juma. ‘And we are already experiencing the consequences – millions of premature deaths and years of healthy life needlessly lost; drug trafficking networks distorting economies; the destruction of lives, communities, and livelihoods; and worsening insecurity and violence. The need to focus on dismantling organised criminal groups has never been greater. We must intensify deterrence efforts, strengthen intelligence sharing, and coordinate joint operations, while also investing more in prevention and treatment.’
World drug report 2026 available here