Psychoactive controlled substances: Current situation in the world

Although the psychoactive substances are strictly controlled in most of the countries in the world, their abuse is still very present, as confirmed by the data from the year of 2009 when over 200 million drug addicts were registered. The most commonly used psychoactive controlled substance in the world is cannabis, followed by amphetamine-type stimulants (methamphetamine, amphetamine and ecstasy), opioids (opium, heroin and opioids used in medical purposes), and cocaine. A similar situation is in Europe: most frequently abused substance is cannabis, followed by cocaine and ecstasy and recent epidemiological study conducted in Serbia points to the widespread use of psychoactive substances among young population. Increasingly problem in many countries is the abuse of prescription drugs, particularly painkillers, sedatives and tranquilizers. Prevention of psychoactive substance abuse should be an essential part of the each country strategy in its efforts to protect human health, particularly health of children and young people.
Iako se psihoaktivne supstance nalaze pod strogom kontrolom u većini zemalja sveta, njihova zloupotreba je i dalje izuzetno prisutna, što potvrđuju i podaci da je u 2009. godini registrovano preko 200 miliona zavisnika. Najčešće korišćena psihoaktivna kontrolisana supstanca u svetu je kanabis, a slede ga stimulansi tipa amfetamina (metamfetamin, amfetamin i ekstazi), zatim opijati (opijum, heroin i opijati koji se koriste i u medicinske svrhe) i kokain. Slična je situacija i u zemljama Evrope: najčešće zloupotrebljavana supstanca je kanabis, a potom slede kokain i ekstazi, a poslednje epidemiološko istraživanje sprovedeno u Srbiji ukazuje na rasprostranjenost upotrebe psihoaktivnih supstanci među mladima u našoj zemlji. Sve prisutniji problem u velikom broju zemalja sveta predstavlja i zloupotreba lekova, pre svega analgetika, sedativa i trankilizera. Prevencija zloupotrebe psihoaktivnih supstanci predstavlja neophodan deo strategije svake države u njenim nastojanjima da zaštiti zdravlje ljudi, posebno dece i mladih.