Global health. The current scenario and future perspectives

205 Figure 2. Number of individual NPS reported by effect group at global level, 2009-2019. As observed, since 2015, over 500 NPS have been detected per year, classified according to the pharmacological effect they produce. Most of these substances are stimulants and agonists of synthetic cannabinoid receptors. Considering the number of NPS in 2019, it can be affirmed that an average of 10 new substances is detected worldwide every week. This has generated great concern globally and in countries individually as it represents a new aspect of drug-related issues. To conclude this section on substance use and its consequences, let us refer again to the UNODC Report (UNODC, 2022) which estimates that in the year 2020, approximately 284 million people used drugs the year before according to studies conducted in various countries. Around 38.6 million of them experienced some form of substance use disorder. According to the same report and referencing the Global Burden of Disease Study from 2019 (Puchner et al., 2019) (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation), approximately 494,000 deaths were estimated to have attributed to drug use globally. Additionally, an estimated total of 128 thousand deaths were attributable to drug use disorders (excluding alcohol). Table 2 presents the distribution of these deaths by drugs and regions considering only Europe and America.