Global Supply of Cocaine Hits Record Level, U.N. Says
Coca cultivation rose 35% from 2020 to 2021, new report says
The global supply of cocaine has hit a record level, according to a new United Nations report.
One of the main drivers behind the increased supply is a rise in cultivation of coca, the plant from which the drug is made, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said in a report released Thursday. Cultivation rose 35% from 2020 to 2021, the sharpest year-to-year increase since 2016, the organization said.
The Covid-19 pandemic briefly disrupted drug markets worldwide as international travel decreased and producers struggled to get their products to market, according to the UNODC. But that slump had little effect on longer-term trends, the group said, noting that almost 2,000 tons of cocaine were produced in 2020—more than double what was produced in 2014.
“The surge in the global cocaine supply should put all of us on high alert,” UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly said in a statement. Ms. Waly said she is especially concerned the cocaine market will expand in Africa and Asia.
North America accounted for 30% of cocaine users in 2020, while Central and Southern America accounted for 24%, according to the report. Western and Central Europe accounted for 21%, and Africa accounted for 9% of cocaine users that year.
Countries in southeastern Europe and West and Central Africa are new hubs for cocaine trafficking, according to the report. Ports on the North Sea like Antwerp, Belgium, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Hamburg, Germany, have outpaced usual entry points in Spain and Portugal for cocaine arriving in Western Europe, it said.
Drug traffickers in Central America are also diversifying their routes and sending more cocaine to Europe, the report said.
Last year, the UNODC said Colombia saw a sharp rise in coca cultivation, with the amount of land used to grow coca expanding 43% from 2020 to 2021. Colombia produced 61% of the world’s coca in 2020, followed by Peru at 26% and Bolivia at 13%, the new report said.
Demand for the drug has also increased in most of the world, the UNODC said Thursday. “Although these increases can be partly explained by population growth, there is also a rising prevalence of cocaine use,” it said.