The Global estimates of premature deaths due to problem drug use as reported by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2017 (UNODC ) are 190000 that is avoidable in most cases. A significant proportion of those deaths are attributable to Opioids. An estimate of 250 million or around 5 percent of world adult population used drugs at least once in 2015 and approximately 30 million of those abusers suffer from drug use disorders. It has been estimated that 28 million years of productive life have been lost due to the problem drug use and 17 million years of healthy living has been spoiled due to drug use disorders. This paper aims to examine the global scenario of drug abuse and the related issues. This paper is an attempt to summarize the problem of substance use in a lucid way with an aim to give an overall scenario of the whole problem of substance use.