(Vienna) Coca cultivation jumped 35% between 2020 and 2021, reaching a record high, according to a UN report released on Thursday, which points to the emergence of new drug hubs in the southeast from Europe and Africa.
In 2021, there were more than 300,000 hectares of plantations in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, the three countries where the fields are concentrated, warns the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), based in Vienna. , in Austria.
Once harvested, the leaves are entrusted to chemists who mix them with gasoline, lime, cement and ammonium sulphate to obtain a white paste.
This paste is then enriched in other laboratories with a cocktail of acids and solvents to become “coke”.
In 2020, cocaine production amounted to more than 2,000 tonnes – unprecedented, according to the report.
After the temporary disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, global supply therefore “continued to expand spectacularly”.
In addition to the development of the culture, the UNODC explains this sharp increase by “improvements in the process of transformation” of the leaves into cocaine.
In parallel, the organization has observed “a continuous increase” in the demand for white powder over the last decade – as evidenced by an unprecedented volume of seizures (nearly 2000 tonnes in 2021).
Once out of the ports and cut – up to 40% – the goods are sold to the customer around $100 per gram.
Demand remains concentrated among affluent populations in the Americas and parts of Europe.
This explosion “should put us all on alert,” said UNODC director Ghada Waly, quoted in the statement.
Central and West Africa is also playing an increasing role as a transit zone. Turkey and Greece are also seeing more and more cocaine passing through their territory.
While the use of crack – a smokable and highly addictive derivative of cocaine known as the “poor man’s drug” – is already well documented in Great Britain, statistics show “sharp increases” in admissions to withdrawal care in Belgium, in France and Spain.
Finally, the report notes the impact of the war in Ukraine on drug routes.
“It is likely that foreign criminal groups”, which previously used Ukrainian ports to avoid controls in Western Europe, will move “their activities to other Black Sea ports, in Romania or Bulgaria”, details UNODC .