Recent years have seen a sharp rise globally in opioid overdose deaths. Currently, the majority of the world burden of disease caused by drug use disorders is attributable to opioid use. In this regard, UNODC launched a five-pillar strategy to support countries grappling with the opioid crisis.

It focuses on:
Pillar 1 → early warning and trend analysis
Pillar 2 → medical and scientific use of opioids
Pillar 3 → prevention and treatment of opioid use disorders
Pillar 4 → international law enforcement operations to disrupt illicit trafficking of opioids
Pillar 5 → strengthening national and international counter-narcotics capacity