Today, on June 26, many countries around the world are holding events on the occasion of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and trafficking. The event was founded by the United Nations in 1987, writes UNN.
At the end of the 19th century, 25 million people used opium, which at that time was 1.5% of the world's population.
In 1909, the first conference of the International Opium commission was held in Shanghai 1. This was followed by the International Opium convention in The Hague in 1912, which first developed measures aimed at controlling the production, import, export, trade and distribution of cocaine, morphine and their derivatives.
After World War II, the function of controlling and combating this drug problem was taken over by the UN. The first important document was the opium protocol of 1953. The next step was the adoption of the Unified Convention on Narcotic Drugs in 1961. In accordance with its provisions, the International Narcotics Control Board was established in 1968.
UN member states have adopted a political declaration and an action plan for international cooperation in order to create a common effective strategy to combat the global drug problem.
But despite numerous measures, drug use and drug addiction remain a serious threat to humanity.
About 300 million people on our planet regularly use drugs. The number of such people has increased by 23% over the past ten years.
Almost millions suffer from various disorders associated with the use of narcotic substances.
This problem remains serious for Ukraine as well. According to statistics, from 1 to 1.5 million of our compatriots use drugs. About 120 thousand Ukrainians die from drug addiction and related diseases every year.