The United Nations declared June 26th to be the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Leaving aside the fact that they define "drugs" to exclude alcohol and tobacco, their slogan "Make health your new high in life, not drugs" is a good one.

June 26th also marks the day on which the UN Office on Drugs and Crime will release its annual World Drug Report. According to the UNODC's news release:

The World Drug Report 2013 presents a comprehensive overview of the latest developments in drug markets, covering production, trafficking, consumption and related health consequences. This year's report contains new global data on the number of people who inject drugs and those who inject drugs and are also living with HIV, showing progress and setbacks during the 2008-2011 period.

The thematic focus of this year's report is on the phenomenon of new psychoactive substances (NPS), which can have deadly consequences for their users but are hard to control, with dynamic, fast-mutating producers and "product lines" which have emerged over the past decade. The report includes a review of different NPS categories identified and used around the world.