Cannabis Is the World's Most Used Drug

Cannabis is the world’s most consumed drug, according to data from the UNODC World Drug Report 2025, released Thursday. An estimated 244 million people reported having used it at least once in the 12 months prior to an UNODC survey. Opioids (including opium, heroin, and morphine) were the second most popular drug in 2023, with some 61 million people using them for non-medical reasons. By comparison, some 31 million people used amphetamines that year, while 25 million used cocaine and 21 million ecstasy.

Data from the UNODC reveals the extent to which illicit drug markets vary depending on location. According to the latest estimates, Oceania was a hotspot for drug use across a range of drug types, with an estimated 12 percent of 15- to 64-year-olds having consumed cannabis that year - well above the global average of 4.64 percent. The region is trailed closely behind by the Americas at 11.9 percent. Large disparities exist within this region however with North America at 20.2 percent, the Caribbean at 5.7 percent, South America at 4.1 percent and Central America at 3.2 percent.

The subregions with the highest rates of opiod use in 2023 were South-West Asia/Near and Middle East (3.5 percent), North America (2.5 percent), West and Central Africa (2.4 percent) and Australia and New Zealand (2.1 percent). Cocaine use was highest in the continent of Oceania* (3 percent), then the subregions of North America (1.92 percent) and Western and Central Europe (1.66 percent). The data is incomplete for all of the subregions when it comes to ecstasy, yet both Australia and New Zealand (2.54 percent) and Western and Central Europe (1.19 percent) stand out for their higher prevalence, which were well above the global average of 0.41 percent.