However the study in The Lancet found that opioids – such as heroin – are the biggest cause of death and illness of all illicit drugs.
A new study into illicit drugs has found that cannabis is by far the most commonly used drug across the world – but that opioids such as heroin are causing the biggest problems to users.
Research published in medical journal The Lancet today found that opioid dependence has the highest level of illness and death of all drug use.
Also, despite cannabis being the most commonly used drug, the number of people classed as dependent on the drug was lower than for other drugs: 13 million worldwide, compared to 15.5 million for opioids and 17.2 million for amphetamines
Men aged between 20 and 29 were the group most likely to be dependent on the four main types of illicit drugs – cocaine, cannabis, amphetamine and opioids – and were also the group most likely to be ill from drug use.
In the first ever analysis of the global prevalence of dependence upon drugs, a team of researchers in Australia and the US found the highest level of cocaine dependence was in North and Latin America, while the highest levels of opioid dependence in in Australasia and western Europe.
Source: Christine Bohan, thejournal.ie, 29/08/2013
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