The Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Yury Fedotov, said that almost 200,000 people die each year from consumption of illegal narcotics.
"Almost 200 thousand people lose their lives each year from overdoses or other medical problems related to drugs," he said at the start of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs Fedotov Monday.
At this meeting in Vienna involving ministers and senior officials from 53 countries and numerous international organizations, with the aim of agreeing a position before the next special session on drugs of the General Assembly, to be held from 19 to 21 April it is the first such meeting in almost two decades.
Fedotov revealed that in the world there are 27 million drug abusers with serious health problems, of which 12 million inject drugs such as heroin.
He stressed that drug trafficking and the huge revenues generated are a major problem in many parts of the world, including Central America.
He stressed that there are alternatives to incarceration for minor offenses, such as possession of drugs for personal consumption, and encouraged to implement programs of prevention and social reintegration.