The United States, which has legalized cannabis use, appears to be seeing an increase in regular use, and COVID-induced snoring has had a similar effect, increasing the risk of depression and suicide, according to a current UN report.
Cannabis is the most widely used drug in the world and its use is increasing, while cannabis on the market is becoming more potent in terms of its tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content, according to its Office’s annual global report. United Nations High Commissioner for Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Many US states have legalized non-medical cannabis use, starting with Washington and Colorado in 2012. Uruguay legalized it in 2013, as did Canada in 2018. Other countries have taken similar steps, but the report focuses on the US and in the other two countries mentioned above.
“Cannabis legalization appears to have accelerated upward trends in daily drug use,” according to a Vienna-based UNODC report.
Although the frequency of cannabis use among adolescents “has not changed much,” there is “a marked increase in the frequent use of high-activity products among young adults.” “The proportion of people with psychiatric disorders and suicides associated with regular cannabis use has increased,” the report said.
According to the same data, about 284 million people or 5.6% of the world’s population had used a drug such as heroin, cocaine, amphetamines or ecstasy in 2020, according to recent data. Of these people, 209 million used cannabis.
“The lockdown periods during the COVID-19 pandemic caused an increase in cannabis use … in 2020,” the report said.
Cocaine production reached a record high in 2020, while its transport by sea is increasing, the report adds, while the quantities seized in 2020, suggest expansion beyond the two main markets of North America and Europe, in Africa and Asia.
Opioids remain the deadliest drugs, the report says, with fentanyl predominating in overdose deaths in the United States. Provisional estimates for 2021 report 107,622 deaths.
SOURCE: AMPE
Source: Capital
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