World Drug Report 2009

The United Nations Office On Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have released the most recent report on drugs; World Drug Report 2009. There is a PDF available here (PDF) of the full report. There are some interesting stats and information included in the report and the BBC has some further insight (heavily loaded with a lot of the mantras repeated regarding the increased strength of marijuana and so on) here.

The WDR has a lot of good and sound common sense regarding where nations should be focusing e.g., "Drug addiction is a health condition: people who take drugs need medical help, not criminal retribution.". & "The problem can only be solved by addressing the problem of slums and dereliction in our cities, through renewal of infrastructures and investment in people – especially by assisting the youth, who are vulnerable to drugs and crime, with education, jobs and sport."

It is unfortunate that there is some fairly heavy moral rhetoric within the document. The sentence immediately following the second above is "Ghettos do not create junkies and the jobless: it is often the other way around." WTF? Ghettos arise where people have little social choice. Yes, with the jobless having no money, taxes are not paid and investment in infrastructure declines. The end result is people with money leave and then you have a vicious cycle that is self-perpetuating. It does not necessarily arise as the result of junkies. The impact of drugs in social structures is clearly understood. It is bad. What is worse though is bundling all drugs together as being the cause and effect.

The Preface is somewhat difficult to take. Antonia Maria Costa, the Executive Director of UNODC makes some sweeping generalisations and bold statements. The content of the report itself is interesting although heavily loaded statistically when, laudible and accurate as it states by counting 'drug use' as 'at least once', the graphs used (and subsequently cherry-picked by the media) appear to paint an alarming picture. I have yet to fully absorb the content of this document so I may have to revise some of my statements here at a later date. However, there is a graph shown on the BBC web page that shows an apparent near doubling of drug related crime. It does not qualify with the graph how these are categorised or what impact specific drug enforcement actions have/may have had on those statistics. Similarly, I have not yet seen the inclusion of alcohol in the drug list. When compared with the 'drug use' statistics using the same all inclusive method I am sure the 'alcohol use' statistics would make them pale into relative insignificance.

The key point here is the need to distinguish and clarify the difference between 'use' and 'abuse'. Without this measure it is impossible to determine the true nature of drug use/abuse and its significance in relation to other social behaviours. Note that I have not said 'drug problem'. Without measures and comparison with other behaviours deemed 'anti-social', it is impossible to make sweeping usage statements. One of the BBC statements relates to the increased potency of cannabis:

"It is also a drug that is increasing in potency. In the last decade, the amount of THC (the harmful component) found in marijuana from North America - grown using the latest techniques - has almost doubled."

Compare this perhaps with a car manufacturer increasing the highest speed ('the harmful component') available in a car using the latest techniques. It is also important to note that there are clear statements relating to data issues making it difficult to state with certainty some of the statements made. There are many useful (pretty?) graphics and lots of data presented against some fairly sweeping statements both 'good' and 'bad'. e.g.,

"There is a high degree of uncertainty in estimating cul-
tivation and production of cannabis, and manufacture
of ATS. These two drugs can be produced virtually any-
where; this makes systematic and comprehensive moni-
toring difficult. Considering the data currently available,
global estimates of cannabis cultivation and ATS manu-
facture have been made on the basis of information on
the number of users (and their estimated annual con-
sumption), and seizures."

It is not clear if this also includes 'at least once' users.

In the report's defence (well sort of ) they are very open on this. What is disturbing is the almost throwaway statement:

"In order to produce reliable and comparable national, regional and global estimates, a number of assumptions and adjustments often need to be made. This year the Report explicitly addresses the question of uncertainty, and an attempt has been made to make the statistics more transparent."

I am not sure I would use the word 'reliable' along with 'estimates', 'assumptions', and 'adjustments'. Time will tell with further reading...

Once I have absorbed the information further, I will update this.