Vienna (Austria), 19 December 2022 – The use of synthetic drugs is on the rise. They can be manufactured anywhere in the world, depending on human creativity and the availability of certain chemicals. Synthetic drugs can also be extremely potent.
Faced with a fast-growing global crisis in synthetic drug use, preserving the health of the global community is a unique challenge for international drug control agencies and organizations.
To support their response to this challenge, the United Nations (UN) Toolkit on Synthetic Drugs, an innovative online platform, was established to bring together resources from across the UN system on a wide range of cross-cutting thematic areas related to synthetic drugs.
Developed as part of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Synthetic Drug Strategy, the toolkit provides experts, practitioners and policymakers with practical guidance on a wide range of topics, from building forensic capacity for drug testing and toxicology laboratories, to developing security standards that prevent drug trafficking through postal services.
The platform is now available in all six official UN languages after an Arabic language version was launched yesterday, on December 18, World Arabic Language Day. This comes at a critical time. According to the World Drug Report 2022, the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf are seeing high levels of captagon use and trafficking, as well as growing use and trafficking of methamphetamine and non-medical tramadol.
“With the Arabic version of the toolkit, critical resources for use in responding to the challenges posed by synthetic drugs are now readily accessible to stakeholders in a region that is seeing rapid growth in drug use and trafficking,” noted Justice Tettey, chief of UNODC’s Drugs, Laboratory and Scientific Services Branch.
Since its launch in 2019, the toolkit has been accessed by more than 35,000 users in over 203 countries and territories to date.
The UN Toolkit on Synthetic Drugs is available in Arabic here.
Here you can watch a video about the toolkit (in Arabic).
