The global reach of the legal highs industry has been laid bare by a UN study that shows new psychoactive substances – as they are officially called – being reported for the first time in countries as far afield as Peru and the Seychelles.

The annual report of the UN’s office of drugs and crime, published on Friday, says that the number of legal highs “with a negative health impact” being marketed around the world increased by a further 20% to 541 substances, up to last December.

The international drug experts say that the substances – which are synthesised in laboratories in south-east Asia and imitate the effects of traditional drugs such as cannabis or ecstasy – are being reported in 95 countries around the world, reflecting the global reach of this new illicit industry.

Countries that reported the emergence of new legal high drugs to the UN under its early warning system for the first time last year included Peru, the Cayman Islands, Montenegro and the Seychelles. The majority, however, were reported in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

The emergence of new synthetic drugs in Peru may seem surprising in a country that has been a key producer of cocaine. But the UN also reports that coca bush production in Peru fell by a further 18% in 2013 and is at its lowest level since the mid-1980s.



The UN report highlights the use of alternative development to provide new sources of income to farmers previously dependent on illicit drug harvests. It quotes one Peruvian farmer in a former Shining Path area who now grows organic coffee instead of coca, saying: “I do not have to hide any more. I am proud of what I produce. I pay taxes and I can now provide my whole family with health insurance.”

But, in advance of the UN’s 10-yearly special general assembly on drugs, this year’s World Drug Report warns that the “widespread political support for alternative development has yet to be matched by funding”.

The report says that overall drug use remains stable around the world, with about 246 million people – about 5% of the global adult population – using drugs. The number of problem drug users is estimated at 1.65 million people and the number of drug-related deaths stood at 187,000 in 2013.

Global opium cultivation reached 7,554 tons in 2014 – the second-highest level since the 1930s – mainly due to cultivation increasing significantly in Afghanistan. The report, however, says that this increase in production has yet to feed through to significant rises in heroin consumption in Europe or America.