UN warns against trade in purest cocaine
- March 9, 2023
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Manufacture and trafficking of cocaine continue to rise as COVID-19 containment measures eased, allowing stockpiles of higher purity drugs stockpiled in the previous year to move in 2021,
Manufacture and trafficking of cocaine continue to rise as COVID-19 containment measures eased, allowing stockpiles of higher purity drugs stockpiled in the previous year to move in 2021, warns a UN report released this Thursday.
“Of particular concern is the marked increase in the illicit production and trafficking of cocaine,” the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), the UN body responsible for drug treaty enforcement, said in a report.
Also, remember that there is also more high-purity cocaine available, which “poses a growing threat to public health.”
INCB points out that there are experts who believe that with the easing of measures against the pandemic, “traffickers have moved stocks that have accumulated since the introduction of these restrictions.”
Although there is no exact data on the amount of cocaine seized in 2021, the report indicates that only shipments intercepted by US customs increased by almost 70% that year, to 40 tons.
It is also indicated that preliminary data for several European countries for 2021 shows that the record of 215 tons was broken again in 2020, up to 240 last year.
In Europe, the largest consignments of cocaine were on cargo ships in the Belgian ports of Antwerp and the Dutch ports of Rotterdam.
However, INCB notes that caches have been seized elsewhere in Europe, which may indicate that traffickers are checking entry points where controls are less stringent.
In fact, the sea route, which for years was the main route used by drug traffickers, has grown in 2021. That year, cocaine seized on these routes accounted for 89% of the world’s total, up from 78% in 2020.
Then, private jet flights from Latin America were stepped up to get around pandemic-related restrictions.
There were also significant seizures in South America, such as 15 tons in Venezuela, the highest volume in fifteen years, or 20 tons in Bolivia, up 26% from 2020.
Other increases in drug seizures have been reported in Panama, Costa Rica or the Dominican Republic, transit countries en route from coca leaf centers in Peru, Colombia and Bolivia to the United States.
INCB notes that the supply chain has become more diversified and efficient, resulting in “increased supply, cleaner product and lower prices.”
In fact, the report recalls that the purity of cocaine in Europe has increased by 40% over the past ten years.
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The report compiles production data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) that shows that global illicit coca cultivation increased by 50% between 2015 and 2020 when it reached 234,200 ha.
In these two years, cocaine production has doubled and reached nearly 2,000 tons in 2020.
Colombia, with 143,000 ha, continues to be the main producer of coca leaf, followed by Peru (61,800 ha) and Bolivia (29,400 ha), according to INCB.
EFE
Source: Aristegui Noticias
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