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SÃO PAULO, SP (FOLHAPRESS) – The world has never produced as much cocaine or opium as today. People have never done so much non-medicinal use of prescription drugs, especially opioids, whose abuses have resulted in the deaths of more than 63,000 people in the United States in 2016.
And, for the first time, the number of people over 50 who use and abuse psychotropic substances has increased.
This framework, as serious as it is complex, was unveiled by the 2018 World Drug Report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), launched the same week as the Drug Policy Monitor of the Americas . the changes of the sector in the countries of the continent, their mechanisms and impacts.
"The Americas are at the forefront of drug policy innovations, although many countries have similarities in more conventional approaches," says Ana Paula Pellegrino, researcher at the Igarapé Institute, project leader .
The most striking innovation for her is the legal and regulated markets for recreational marijuana in Canada, Uruguay and eight US states – which, however, are little explored in the paper. ;UN.
The report focuses on the production of psychotropic substances considered illegal, in seized quantities and in the profile of users. There has been an increase in the number of drug addicts over the age of 50, which is new since the UN created these parameters and this is due to two factors.
First, the aging of generations who grew up in an environment where the drug was popular. This would be the case for the so-called baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, who consumed more drugs in their youth than previous generations, and many of whom were able to keep the habit at maturity.
The second factor is that many older people would seek in these illicit substances the relief of pain and other problems. This would explain why the drugs most consumed in this age group are opioids, painkillers and marijuana.
In the United States, for example, the number of drug users over the age of 50 increased from 3.6 million in 2006 to 10.8 million in 2016, an increase of 200%.
With this, the number of drug-related deaths in this age group has also increased. In 2000, 27% were people over 50 years old. In 2015, 39%.
"This growth involves significant changes in public health and the advice of doctors who often prescribe opioid painkillers without realizing that their use can lead to addiction," says psychiatrist Arthur Guerra. specialist in chemical dependence.
The increase in non-drug use of prescription drugs would be related to this practice. To give you an idea, the amount of opioid drugs seized in 2016 (87 tons) was virtually the same amount of heroin confiscated that year (91 tons).
For Guerra, the trafficking of these substances is much easier because its production is legalized. This is the case of fentanyl, an opioid whose use has exploded in the United States and migrated to Europe, and tramadol, another pharmaceutical opioid that is spreading in North Africa and the United States. Middle East.
According to the psychiatrist, the companies producing these drugs "will be triggered at some point" by the public health problems they caused.
At the other end of the age pyramid, there are also problems. Marijuana use among 15- and 16-year-olds was more prevalent than among 15- to 64-year-olds – 5.6% of marijuana users used marijuana in 2016, compared to 3.9% of the general population.
"We know that the damage caused by marijuana is more important in people whose brain and nervous system are still developing," explains Gabriel Elias, coordinator of institutional relations of the Brazilian Platform for Human Resources Policy. drug addicts. "The responsible regulation of this substance could diminish this early use, since the ban makes it equal for all age groups."
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