“Be sober and receive salvation through our Lord.”
[Jun.28.2023] Foreign media such as DPA and AFP reported on the 25th (local time) that the number of narcotic drug users worldwide has increased by 23% in the past 10 years. According to the World Narcotics Report 2023 of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the number of narcotic drug users worldwide increased by 23.3% from 240 million in early 2011 to 296 million in 2021.
Over the past decade, a notable change has been the rise of synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine (meth) and fentanyl. Fentanyl also called a “zombie drug” is a medical pain reliever originally designed to be administered to patients with severe pain like cancer. However, it is often abused as a narcotic drug because of its addictive and hallucinogenic effects, which are 50 times stronger than heroin and 80 times higher than morphine.
These synthetic drugs are known to be easy to manufacture and inexpensive. Unlike opium or cocaine, synthetic drugs do not have a specific cultivation area or cycle, making it difficult for drug enforcement authorities to track transactions, the report said. UNODC said, “Fentanyl has significantly changed the addictive drug market in North America.”
Most of North America’s approximately 90,000 narcotic painkiller overdose deaths in 2021 alone were related to synthetic drugs. UNODC said the rise in synthetic drugs is also changing the traditional narcotic drug market.
According to the report, opium production in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan is declining, possibly due to increased manufacturing of synthetic drugs, UNODC explained. Afghanistan has been producing 80% of the world’s illicit opium, which is used to make heroin.
UNODC said synthetic drug manufacturing and smuggling are also on the rise in Russian-invaded Ukraine. “We must strengthen our response to drug trafficking organizations that take advantage of conflict and the global crisis to expand the production of illicit drugs, especially synthetic drugs,” said UNODC Director General Gadawali.
The report said cocaine production has also steadily increased, reaching an all-time high in 2021, with an estimated 22 million people taking cocaine the same year. The report analysed that “the global cocaine market continues to be concentrated in the north Americas and Western Europe, but it appears to be growing rapidly in developing countries in Africa, Asia, and southeast Europe” (Source: Yonhap News Agency).
You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.(1 Thessalonians 5:5-6,9)
God, pray that You would save those who are dying as a slave of sin and death around the world from narcotic drug addiction where the use and distribution of synthetic drugs are soaring. Pray You would destroy Satan’s scheme that leads people to lose their souls while pursuing the pleasure of the flesh and cut off the distribution of illegal drugs. Also, let the churches of nations wage war with prayer so that this generation, which is being destroyed by dark money and drugs, can wake up, regain its original life, and know the joy of engaging with the Lord.
Prayer 24·365
prayer@prayer24365.org
