Africa faces drug-use surge

Over the next eight years, drug use is expected to rise by 11% globally and by as much as 40% in Africa alone.According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in 2018, about 60 million of an estimated 269 million global users were based in Africa.The challenge is compounded by population growth, as Africa is forecast to have the largest rise in population of any region between 2018 to 2030, it said.“This could result in an increase of 38% in the number of people who use drugs on the continent.”Increased development and urbanisation are two more potential drivers for an explosion of narcotic use in the region.Serious consequencesThe agency warned of the potentially dire ramifications of a ballooning population using drugs.“Drugs cost lives,” Ghada Waly, UNODC executive director, said.Illegal narcotics use killed almost half a million people in 2019.“The illicit drug trade also continues to hold back economic and social development, while disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable and marginalised, and it constitutes a fundamental threat to security and stability in some parts of the world,” she added.Part of the surge in narcotics reaching Africa comes from the production and trafficking of opiates in Afghanistan, which accounts for the majority of global heroin production.Trafficking routesOpiates produced by Afghanistan then travel – by sea and by air – via the ‘Southern Route’, a diverse network of trafficking circuits leading to consumer markets in Africa, South and South-East Asia and the Middle East.Traffickers also use African countries as transit points to bring Afghan-manufactured heroin to India and Europe, UNODC explained.Between February to December 2021, a total of 1 171 suspects were arrested in connection with drug-related crimes in Namibia.According to statistics from the Namibian police, drugs to the value of more than N$37.4 million were confiscated in the country during this period.

Africa faces drug-use surge

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-14

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Africa faces drug-use surge

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-14

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