"Women often suffer serious long-term consequences of incarceration that affect several aspects of their lives.

"In July 2017, police forces from several countries worked together to take down the largest drug-trading platform on the darknet, the part of the “deep web” containing information that is only accessible using special web browsers. Before it was closed, AlphaBay had featured more than 250,000 listings for illegal drugs and chemicals. It had had over 200,000 users and 40,000 vendors during its existence. The authorities also succeeded in taking down the trading platform Hansa, described as the third largest criminal marketplace on the dark web.

"A systematic review undertaken in 2017 of the coverage of interventions to prevent and manage HIV and hepatitis C among PWID showed that needle and syringe programmes were available in only 52 per cent of countries where injecting drug use was reported, while opioid substitution therapy was confirmed to be available in 48 per cent of countries worldwide.

"The joint UNODC/WHO/UNAIDS/World Bank estimate for the number of people who inject drugs (PWID) for 2014 is 11.7 million (range: from 8.4 to 19.0 million), or 0.25 per cent (range: 0.18-0.40 per cent) of the population aged 15-64.

"By contrast, in the European Union much of the corruption reported appears to be on a low level, according to research by Europol.⁸⁰ Political corruption at the level of elected national representatives or agency heads appears to be rare.

"The Cosa Nostra and ‘Ndrangheta have long benefited from high-level political connections in Italy.⁷⁷ In a similar way, some Mexican drug cartels allegedly benefited from protection from local police and local politicians.⁷⁸ In Guinea Bissau, international drug traffickers counted on the support of
influential segments within the political and military apparatus for a number of years.⁷⁹

"The drug problem and corruption have a mutually reinforcing relationship. Corruption facilitates the production and trafficking of illegal drugs and this, in turn, benefits corruption.⁷⁶ The wealth and power of some drug trafficking organizations can exceed that of local governments, allowing them to buy protection from law enforcement agents, criminal justice institutions, politicians and the business sector. In doing so, they further reinforce corruption. The rule of law is both an immediate victim and, if it is already weak, an underlying factor that feeds this cycle."

"Injecting drug use is estimated to account for approximately 10 per cent of HIV infections worldwide and 30 per cent of all HIV cases outside Africa,113 while in the eastern countries of the WHO European Region114 more than 80 per cent of all HIV infections occur among PWID [People Who Inject Drugs].115 PWID are estimated to be 22 times more likely than people in the general population to be living with HIV.¹¹⁶

"The joint UNODC/WHO/UNAIDS/World Bank estimate of the number of PWID worldwide in 2018 is 11.3 million (range: 8.9 million to 15.3 million), corresponding to 0.23 per cent (range: 0.18 to 0.31 per cent) of the population aged 15–64. This estimate is based on the most recent information available and assessment of the methodologies of the different sources.¹⁰⁸

"In the operating guidelines on the early warning system, EMCDDA [European Monitoring Centre on Drugs and Drug Addiction] made it explicit that 'the term ‘new’ did not refer to newly invented, but rather ‘newly misused’' substances as 'most of the drugs in question were first created many years ago.'²⁰ In fact, investigations into the potential use of piperazines as anthelmintic have been reported in scientific literature since the early 1950s.²¹ Yet they only started to emerge as a health problem in several countries in the decade 2001-2010.