The world’s most used heroin smuggling route goes from Afghanistan to Western Europe, crossing Hungary and the Balkans in the meantime.
As Index reports, the United Nations has released the results of its newest study regarding drug use all around the world. Its main finding is that the number of drug users has significantly risen in the last decade,
to an estimated 271 million in 2017, which is a 30% increase since 2009.
The most popular drug was again found to be cannabis, with 188 million people having reported using it in the past year. Looking at regions, the United States is leading the way in marijuana consumption, with 56.6 million reported users, closely followed by the number of users in the entirety of Asia, 54.2 million. Broken down to countries and gender, Israeli men seem to be the most adamant marijuana users with 33% reporting usage in the past year.
Hungary is mentioned in two different places in the report: once when it talks about the opioid smuggle route that goes from Afghanistan to Western Europe through the Balkans, and another time when it highlights
that Hungarian drug abusers who use needles have turned away from heroin and amphetamines in favour of emerging cathinones.
Hungary has seen its fair share of drug-related controversies lately from schoolchildren to nationwide surveys.