North America Is No. 1 For Drug-Related Deaths

The 2013 World Drug Report, compiled by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, has revealed that North America remains the worst region worldwide when it comes to drug-related mortality.

In 2011, it was estimated that North America had a mortality rate of 155.8 per million people aged between 15 and 64. This is considerably more than second placed Oceania which had a rate of 80.8 deaths per million people. The United States has struggled to battle massive quantities of illegal drugs, with urban centres like New Orleans, Baltimore and San Francisco particularly badly affected.

Africa comes third with a mortality rate of 61.9 per million people while the amount of deaths globally due to drugs stood at 45.9 per million in 2011.