The World Faces Severe Impacts from Substance Use

The world is grappling with the severe impacts of substance use, which causes numerous deaths annually, despite the economic benefits derived from taxes on these products in various countries.

The use of substances leads to significant health and social problems for users, their families, and society as a whole. This is particularly true in African countries, where excessive alcohol consumption and drug use have led to widespread poverty.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes the severe impacts of substance use and has developed strategies to assist countries in developing, organizing, monitoring, and evaluating treatment and other essential services. WHO is dedicated to reducing the burden of substance use worldwide, with Africa being a continent with a high number of affected individuals. Young people, especially those under the age of 24, are highly vulnerable and are targeted by the market.

Statistics show that harmful alcohol use is responsible for 3.3 million deaths each year. Globally, individuals aged 15 years or older consume an average of 6.2 liters of pure alcohol annually. However, less than half of the world’s population (38.3%) drinks alcohol, meaning that those who do drink consume an average of 17 liters of pure alcohol per year.

Injecting drug use has been reported in 148 countries, with 120 of these countries also reporting HIV infections among users. At least 15.3 million people worldwide suffer from drug use disorders. In 2008, it was estimated that 155 to 250 million people, or 3.5% to 5.7% of the global population aged 15-64, used other substances such as cannabis, amphetamines, cocaine, opioids, and non-prescribed psychoactive prescription medication. Cannabis is the most commonly used substance globally (129-190 million people), followed by amphetamine-type stimulants, cocaine, and opioids.

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The use of substances causes significant health and social problems for individuals, their families, and society as a whole. WHO estimated that 0.7% of the global burden of disease in 2004 was due to cocaine and opioid use. The social cost of illicit substance use is estimated to be around 2% of GDP in countries that have measured it.

Drinking too much alcohol, whether on a single occasion or over time, can have serious health consequences. Here’s how alcohol affects different parts of the body:

Alcohol disrupts the brain’s communication pathways, affecting mood, behavior, and cognitive functions, making it difficult to think clearly and coordinate movements.

Excessive drinking can damage the heart, leading to conditions such as cardiomyopathy (stretching and drooping of the heart muscle), arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat), stroke, and high blood pressure.

Heavy drinking can cause liver problems, including steatosis (fatty liver), alcoholic hepatitis, fibrosis, and cirrhosis.

Alcohol causes the pancreas to produce toxic substances that can lead to pancreatitis, a dangerous inflammation that impairs its ability to make enzymes and hormones for proper digestion.

The National Cancer Institute confirms that alcohol consumption is linked to several types of cancer. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services lists alcohol consumption as a known human carcinogen