Drug abuse can be treated, new UN health agency report asserts

In the first report of its kind, the United Nations health agency says massive advances in neuroscience show that dependence on tobacco, alcohol and other substances, both legal and illicit, is as much a brain disorder as any other neurological or psychiatric illness and can be treated.

The report discusses how genes interact with environmental factors to sustain psychoactive substance-using behaviours. In presenting the document, the World Health Organization (WHO) said this knowledge "is the basis of novel diagnostic tools and behavioural and pharmacological treatments."

New developments in neuroscience research into cravings, compulsive use, tolerance and dependence are reviewed in the report, which finds that psychoactive substances have different ways of acting on the brain, though they are similar in the way they affect those important areas involved in motivations and emotions.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that about 205 million people make use of one type of illicit substance or another. The most common is cannabis, followed by amphetamines, cocaine and the opiates.

WHO Director-General Dr. Lee Jong-wook today called for greater attention to the health and social problems associated with dependence on tobacco, alcohol and illicit substances, with policy responses tailored to specific situations.

"Many gaps remain to be filled," he noted, "but this important report shows that we already know a great deal about the nature of these problems."

Using illicit substances is more prevalent among males than females, much more so than smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol, UNODC says.

Substance use is also more prevalent among young people than among those in older age groups. About 2.5 per cent of the global population and 3.5 per cent of people aged 15 years and older used cannabis at least once in one of the years between 1998 and 2001, according to the agency.