Comparative study reveals current status of drug abuse in 6 South American countries

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) through the Inter-American Observatory on Drugs (OID), in partnership with the national drug commissions of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay, present the findings report on the study "Guidelines for Public Policies on Drugs in the Subregion: First Comparative Study on Drug Consumption and Associated Factors among the General Population (15-64 Years Old)." The study is currently available only in Spanish.

This study is the result of joint work among the two international organizations and the drug commissions within the framework of the Project "Subregional System of Information and Research on Drugs in Argentina,  Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay."

The investigation was carried out in 2006-2007, with the methodological designs shared to ensure the comparative analysis of the data in a survey sample that totaled 61,607 people that represented 43 million inhabitants in the six countries.

With regard to the findings, the study underscores the high level of alcohol consumption in all the countries (between 30% and 60% of the population drank alcohol in the last month of the study), which also showed up in a UNODC-CICAD/OID comparative analysis of substance abuse among secondary school students in nine South American countries (2004-2005).

The results concerning illicit drugs show the highest levels of drug use in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, and the lowest levels in Ecuador and Peru, with Bolivia in between. The illicit drug most used in all the countries is marijuana, as it is in almost all the rest of the world.

ELEMENTOS ORIENTADORES PARA LAS POLÍTICAS PÚBLICAS SOBRE DROGAS EN LA SUBREGIÓN: primer estudio comparativo sobre consumo de drogas y factores asociados en población de 15 a 64 años.

The study is only available in Spanish (PDF, 94 pp, 2.33 Mb). An executive summary will be available in English shortly, but is only in Spanish (PDF, 8 pp, 67 kb) now.