New synthetic drugs, cocaine and meth booming, warns UN
Key takeaways
- A spike in potent synthetic drugs comes as manufacturers respond to geopolitical changes and look to increase profits.
- “We have seen an unprecedented spike in new types of drugs on the market, and worryingly, some are more potent or dangerous than before,” Executive Director Monica Juma said in a statement.
- There were five times more drug types found in 2024 than just four years before, according to the report, as suppliers continue to invent new synthetic drugs to avoid detection.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
A spike in potent synthetic drugs comes as manufacturers respond to geopolitical changes and look to increase profits.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogle Add Al Jazeera on Googleinfo The UN reports a surge of new synthetic drugs, as well as cocaine and methamphetamine [File: Ulises Ruiz Basurto/EPA]By Christine Maguire Published On 26 Jun 202626 Jun 2026The global drug trade is flourishing, with a surge of new synthetic drugs, as well as cocaine and methamphetamine, as traffickers exploit global instability to push into new markets, the United Nations has warned.
In its World Drug Report released on Friday, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warns that established and new narcotics are surging, and filling a gap left by the Taliban’s clampdown on heroin production in Afghanistan.