26/08/2024
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is a United Nations office that was established in 1997 as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention by combining the United Nations International Drug Control Program (UNDCP) and the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division in the United Nations Office at Vienna, adopting the current name in 2002. The current agenda of UNODC is addressing and finding means to end the opioid epidemic with special emphasis on the USA and Europe.
UNODC is committed to achieving health, security, and justice for all by tackling threats such as drugs, organized crime, corruption, and terrorism. UNODC offers practical assistance and encourages transnational approaches to action, as the scale of these problems is often too great for states to confront alone. UNODC research constitutes the key global authority in the fields of drugs and crime, providing high-quality, essential evidence to inform policy-making and valuable sources of knowledge.
The opioid epidemic is a significant public health challenge, with many people dying from opioid overdoses. The opioid epidemic has been driven by a range of factors, including the over-prescription of opioids for pain management, the availability of cheap and potent synthetic opioids, and the lack of access to effective treatment for opioid use disorder. UNODC has been working to address the opioid epidemic through a range of initiatives, including the provision of technical assistance to countries to improve their capacity to prevent and treat drug use disorders.
In summary, UNODC is working to address the opioid epidemic with special emphasis on the USA and Europe.