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Australians and New Zealanders are among the largest users of recreational drugs in the world, according to a report by the UN.

The 2012 World Drug Report use of drugs, other than heroin, in the Oceania region was much higher than the global average.

Marijuana is the most commonly used drug in Australia, with 9.1 to 14.6 per cent of Australians reportedly using the drug in 2010, compared to rates between 2 and 5 per cent globally.

Interestingly most Aussies who use cannabis reported that it was the only drug they used.

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While the use of ecstasy is down in Australia from 3.7 to 3 per cent, more of us are using cocaine. Bucking the trend in Europe and North America that saw cocaine use drop, in 2010 use of the drug in Australia rose around four points to between 1.5 and 1.9 per cent.

The dip in the popularity of ecstasy has been attributed to seizures of the drug almost doubling from 2009 to 2010, when 112kg of ecstasy and its related drugs were taken by authoriites.

Drug use continues to be a significant problem around the world with an estimated 27 million people abusing drugs.

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Of the 1790 drug-related deaths in Australia in 2010, almost 40 per cent was due to opiates such as heroin.

In Australia, 50 per cent of the people seeking treatment for drug abuse use cannabis, while a further 20 per cent sought treatment for opiate and amphetamine misuse.

Deaths from alcohol and tobacco continue to outstrip illicit drug use mortality. In 2010, 200000 people around the world died from using illegal drugs, while there were 2.3 million alcohol-related and 5.1 million smoking-related deaths.

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