SYNTHETIC DRUG MARKETS NOW PRESENT IN 96% OF COUNTRIES AS GLOBAL POLICY RESPONSE FRACTURES, NEW GI-TOC REPORT FINDS

SYNTHETIC DRUG MARKETS NOW PRESENT IN 96% OF COUNTRIES AS GLOBAL POLICY RESPONSE FRACTURES, NEW GI-TOC REPORT FINDS

Released on World Drug Day, the new report ‘Synthetics and the New Drug World’ finds synthetic drugs entrenched in 186 of 193 countries, and documents a breakdown in the multilateral consensus that has shaped international drug policy.

Geneva, 26 June 2026 – The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) today releases Synthetics and the New Drug World, a new report by Senior Expert Jason Eligh documenting a structural transformation of the global illicit drug economy, and a widening gap between the scale of the threat and the international community's capacity to respond.

According to the latest Global Organized Crime Index, synthetic drug markets are now present in 186 of 193 countries. Only seven were assessed as having little or no synthetic drug market presence, a smaller footprint

than illicit heroin markets. What was once described as the future of drug trafficking has already become ist present. (Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, Genf, Press release, 26.06.2026)

https://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Press-release-World-Drug-Day-2026.pdf