What is the most widely used drug?

Drug use is causing more deaths than ever and the illegal market continues to expand every year. These are some of the conclusions that the UN has warned about in its latest World Report on Drugs (2019) and in which there are more than half a million deaths per year due to drug use substances.

In addition to the danger that illegal psychoactive substances pose to people's lives, today legal drugs also wreak havoc on the world. public health at the international level and present a real danger to society, although their real harmful effects are not as perceived by the majority of the public. population.

In order to clearly know what are the most consumed drugs in the worldHere we will see a list of the substances that have the most used, distinguishing between legal and illegal ones.

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What is the most widely used drug?

The distinction between legal and illegal substances changes what we can consider the most consumed drug in the world. In any case, the "champions" in each category are highly consumed substances that pose a real social problem.

1. Illegal drugs

Illegal drugs are those psychoactive substances whose consumption or distribution is penalized by the legal and legal system of a country. Although the legislation on each substance may vary depending on which nation we are in, mainly in the case of cannabis, in general the drugs prosecuted by law are always the themselves. Below are the most commonly used illegal drugs today.

1.1. Cannabis

If we focus on illegal psychoactive substances, cannabis is the most widely used drug worldwide. The low perception of risk that this drug has among public opinion, especially in the youth population, is one of the factors that explain its high percentage of consumers, but there are also other elements to take into account.

Among the factors that make possible the highest cannabis use in the world, we can highlight, in the first place, the different processes of legalization or regulation of the legal status of this drug in various countries Westerners; and in addition to that, it is also pertinent to mention the great variety of ways of consuming cannabis that currently exist in the market, such as pipes, sprays or vaporizers, some of them perceived as less harmful to the Health.

These factors create a less dangerous perception of cannabis in a sector of the population, a vision that is not corresponds to reality or to the harmful effects of this drug and its main psychoactive component: THC.

Some of the effects of frequent use of THC are short-term memory loss, episodes of anxiety, difficulty in controlling one's own body and a dependence on substance. Besides that, some of the long-term physical effects may be respiratory illnesses or the possibility of psychiatric disorders such as psychosis flare-ups.

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1.2. Cocaine

Cocaine is the second most widely used illegal drug in the world. Its high price in relation to other drugs such as cannabis, has placed it for decades as the stimulant drug par excellence of people with purchasing power.

The most common way of consuming this drug is in powder form, through nasal aspiration of the well-known “coca stripes”, but there are also other ways of consuming it.

Whatever the mode of cocaine use, its effects are highly harmful to the health of any person, being the most notable physical effects, nausea, tremors, shortness of breath, propensity to get involved in fights or to cause accidents, persecution mania or possible and death in cases of overdose. In addition, it is very addictive.

1.3. MDMA

MDMA or ecstasy is the most popular and widely consumed synthetic drug in the world. The main areas where this drug is consumed are usually nightlife venues such as discos, parties or raves., whose assistants often take it for its stimulating effects.

The most prominent effects on the body are a potentially dangerous increase in blood pressure, tension jaw, dizziness and, in cases of high consumption, kidney failure, loss of consciousness or seizures

Besides that, the main effects in the psychological field are disinhibition, illogical thoughts, hallucinations and also the loss of cognitive functions, in the long term with repeated consumption.

2. Legal drugs

Legal drugs are all those psychoactive substances that despite having negative effects on the body and the possibility of creating dependence on human beings, in addition to other health problems, its consumption and distribution are allowed in the vast majority of countries of the world.

2.1. Alcohol

Alcohol is the most widely used legal drug in the world and today, the age of initiation of use of this substance, as well as cases of addiction, is increasingly lower in developed countries.

This increase in young drinkers and adolescent addicts is due, in part, to the popularity of alcohol in most societies, to the effect of advertising to a certain extent. deregulated point of alcoholic beverages in the population and the conception that adolescents have of this product as a socialization drink and linked to adult environments and holidays.

The health risks that alcohol consumption entails are not fully perceived by society in general, but it is true that this substance It is one of the drugs that causes the most deaths every year on the entire planet.

The main effects of alcohol in the body are motor lack of coordination, acute detoxification and in extreme cases, its high consumption can cause an alcoholic coma or death. In the psychological field, its effects are disinhibition, difficulty speaking and difficulty in reasoning and association of ideas.

2.2. Tobacco

Tobacco is another of the most popular and standard legal drugs in the world. Despite the different anti-smoking campaigns carried out over the last decades in the countries Westerners, who have managed to significantly decrease the number of consumers worldwide, in the present more than 1 billion people in the world still smoke regularly.

The main harmful effects of nicotine from tobacco are premature fatigue, loss of appetite, increased heart rate and an increased risk of angina, cancer and other diseases in the system respiratory.

2.3. Hypnosedatives

Hypnosedatives are drugs that have a sedative effect on the central nervous system and that also generate dependency in the body. In high doses, its effects can decrease the person's reflexes, cause drowsiness and even lead to coma.

These types of substances are increasingly consumed in the world, becoming the third legal drug with the most users on the planet.

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