Latest news with #drugtrade
New York Times
9 hours ago
- New York Times
Cocaine Is the Fastest-Growing Illegal Drug Worldwide. Here's Why.
More people around the world are using illicit drugs than ever — more than 316 million in 2023. Marijuana is the most used drug, followed by opioids and amphetamines. But it is the cocaine market that continues to break records year after year. Global production reached a new high in 2023, racing to meet record demand and fueling new highs in cocaine-related deaths in many countries in recent years, according to a United Nations report released on Thursday. An estimated 25 million people used cocaine worldwide in 2023 — up from 17 million a decade earlier. Production jumped by 34 percent from 2022. Tracking the production and consumption of illicit drugs, including cocaine, is complex and time-consuming. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime's annual World Drug Report, which this year includes data through 2023, is one of the few sources of global data on the illegal drug trade. Here's what it shows about the worldwide cocaine market. Where does cocaine come from? The coca plant, the main ingredient for cocaine, is primarily cultivated in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. Colombia drove the recent increase in illegal cocaine production because of an expansion of coca cultivation areas and better yields from each acre. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CTV News
a day ago
- CTV News
Global cocaine boom keeps setting new records, UN report says
The UN logo at UN headquarters in New York on February 8 , 2024. Photographer: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images The global cocaine trade keeps setting new records, with cocaine the world's fastest-growing illicit drug market as Colombia production surges along with users in Europe and North and South America, a United Nations report published on Thursday said. The annual UN Office on Drugs and Crime's (UNODC) World Drug Report showed that in 2023, the latest year for which comprehensive data was available, the cocaine trade went from strength to strength. 'Production, seizures, and use of cocaine all hit new highs in 2023, making cocaine the world's fastest-growing illicit drug market,' the Vienna-based UNODC said in a statement. On the supply side, global estimated illegal production of cocaine rose by around a third to a record of more than 3,708 tons, mainly because of an increase in the area devoted to illicit coca bush cultivation in Colombia and updated data that showed the yield there was roughly 50% higher than in 2022. The estimated number of cocaine users globally also kept growing, reaching 25 million people in 2023, up from 17 million 10 years earlier, the UNODC said. 'North America, Western and Central Europe and South America continue to constitute the largest markets for cocaine, on the basis of the number of people who used drugs in the past year and on data derived from wastewater analysis,' it said. The synthetic drug market also continues to expand, helped by low operational costs and reduced risk of detection for those making or smuggling the drugs, the UNODC said. The leading drugs there were amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) like methamphetamine and amphetamine. 'Seizures of ATS reached a record high in 2023 and accounted for almost half of all global seizures of synthetic drugs, followed by synthetic opioids, including fentanyl,' the UNODC said. (Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Leslie Adler)
RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
Global cocaine boom keeps setting new records, UN report says
File photo. Photo: NZ Customs Service The global cocaine trade keeps setting new records, with cocaine the world's fastest-growing illicit drug market as Colombia production surges along with users in Europe and North and South America, a United Nations report published on Thursday says. The annual UN Office on Drugs and Crime's (UNODC) World Drug Report showed that in 2023, the latest year for which comprehensive data was available, the cocaine trade went from strength to strength. "Production, seizures, and use of cocaine all hit new highs in 2023, making cocaine the world's fastest-growing illicit drug market," the Vienna-based UNODC said in a statement. On the supply side, global estimated illegal production of cocaine rose by around a third to a record of more than 3708 tons, mainly because of an increase in the area devoted to illicit coca bush cultivation in Colombia and updated data that showed the yield there was roughly 50 percent higher than in 2022. The estimated number of cocaine users globally also kept growing, reaching 25 million people in 2023, up from 17 million 10 years earlier, the UNODC said. "North America, Western and Central Europe and South America continue to constitute the largest markets for cocaine, on the basis of the number of people who used drugs in the past year and on data derived from wastewater analysis," it said. The synthetic drug market also continues to expand, helped by low operational costs and reduced risk of detection for those making or smuggling the drugs, the UNODC said. The leading drugs there were amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) like methamphetamine and amphetamine. "Seizures of ATS reached a record high in 2023 and accounted for almost half of all global seizures of synthetic drugs, followed by synthetic opioids, including fentanyl," the UNODC said. -Reuters
Al Arabiya
2 days ago
- Al Arabiya
Global cocaine boom keeps setting new records: UN report
The global cocaine trade keeps setting new records, with cocaine the world's fastest-growing illicit drug market as Colombia production surges along with users in Europe and North and South America, a United Nations report published on Thursday said. The annual UN Office on Drugs and Crime's (UNODC) World Drug Report showed that in 2023, the latest year for which comprehensive data was available, the cocaine trade went from strength to strength. 'Production, seizures, and use of cocaine all hit new highs in 2023, making cocaine the world's fastest-growing illicit drug market,' the Vienna-based UNODC said in a statement. On the supply side, global estimated illegal production of cocaine rose by around a third to a record of more than 3,708 tons, mainly because of an increase in the area devoted to illicit coca bush cultivation in Colombia and updated data that showed the yield there was roughly 50% higher than in 2022. The estimated number of cocaine users globally also kept growing, reaching 25 million people in 2023, up from 17 million 10 years earlier, the UNODC said. 'North America, Western and Central Europe and South America continue to constitute the largest markets for cocaine, on the basis of the number of people who used drugs in the past year and on data derived from wastewater analysis,' it said. The synthetic drug market also continues to expand, helped by low operational costs and reduced risk of detection for those making or smuggling the drugs, the UNODC said. The leading drugs there were amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) like methamphetamine and amphetamine. 'Seizures of ATS reached a record high in 2023 and accounted for almost half of all global seizures of synthetic drugs, followed by synthetic opioids, including fentanyl,' the UNODC said.
Reuters
2 days ago
- Reuters
Global cocaine boom keeps setting new records, UN report says
VIENNA, June 26 (Reuters) - The global cocaine trade keeps setting new records, with cocaine the world's fastest-growing illicit drug market as Colombia production surges along with users in Europe and North and South America, a United Nations report published on Thursday said. The annual U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime's (UNODC) World Drug Report showed that in 2023, the latest year for which comprehensive data was available, the cocaine trade went from strength to strength. "Production, seizures, and use of cocaine all hit new highs in 2023, making cocaine the world's fastest-growing illicit drug market," the Vienna-based UNODC said in a statement. On the supply side, global estimated illegal production of cocaine rose by around a third to a record of more than 3,708 tons, mainly because of an increase in the area devoted to illicit coca bush cultivation in Colombia and updated data that showed the yield there was roughly 50% higher than in 2022. The estimated number of cocaine users globally also kept growing, reaching 25 million people in 2023, up from 17 million 10 years earlier, the UNODC said. "North America, Western and Central Europe and South America continue to constitute the largest markets for cocaine, on the basis of the number of people who used drugs in the past year and on data derived from wastewater analysis," it said. The synthetic drug market also continues to expand, helped by low operational costs and reduced risk of detection for those making or smuggling the drugs, the UNODC said. The leading drugs there were amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) like methamphetamine and amphetamine. "Seizures of ATS reached a record high in 2023 and accounted for almost half of all global seizures of synthetic drugs, followed by synthetic opioids, including fentanyl," the UNODC said.
