World Drug Abuse Up, U.N. Body Says
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GENEVA — Drug abuse and addiction have risen dramatically in most countries, with an estimated 750,000 heroin addicts and 4.8 million cocaine abusers around the world, the World Health Organization, a U.N. specialized agency, said Friday.
The figures, based on official reports by U.N. member countries, are a conservative estimate of the real problem, the organization said in a news release.
The 4.8 million cocaine abusers were reported mainly in the industrial nations. About 1.76 million opium abusers were reported, mostly in West Asia, Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific. Other reported figures included 2.3 million abusers of amphetamines and 3.4 million abusers of barbiturates, sedatives and tranquilizers.
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