Alarm As Global Cocaine Market Expands
By Simon Mwangi
Believe it or not, the global supply of cocaine is at record levels, even after covid19 dealt a blow to manufacture and international trafficking following halting of movement across the world. Figures show that almost 2,000 tons was produced in 2020, continuing intense proliferation in manufacture that began in 2014, when the total was less than half of today’s levels.
The damning revelation is contained in the Global Cocaine Report, 2023 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which attributes the surge partly as a result of an expansion in coca bush cultivation, which doubled between 2013 and 2017, hit a peak in 2018, and rose sharply again in 2021.
Cocaine is a powerfully addictive stimulant drug made from the leaves of the coca plant native to South America. Users snort cocaine powder through the nose, or they rub it into their gums. Others dissolve the powder and inject it into the bloodstream. There are those who inject a combination of cocaine and heroin, called a Speedball.
The use of this drug can adversely affect the health of any and all organs, systems, and functions of the body. It can cause a heart attack, coronary artery spasm, arrhythmia, and sudden death
Cocaine trafficking is most common in North Africa, but the drug has been attaining a growing presence in East Africa despite being a region far from conventional cocaine smuggling routes. Starting in 2004, there have been several high-profile seizures in East Africa.
Due to the strategic location of Kenya in the East African region and Nairobi being an economic hub in the region, there has been an upsurge of international narcotic drug trafficking leading to increased injecting drug users (IDU).
According to the report, the use of parcel and courier services increased significantly during COVID-related lockdowns. Restrictions on passenger flights meant traffickers could not rely on couriers to transport drugs on planes.
It further reveals that some countries in West Africa have noted a significant increase in these services to smuggle small quantities of cocaine to Europe and beyond. In Costa Rica, smaller quantities of cocaine were being mailed to Asia, Africa and Europe concealed in goods such as books, religious images, and vehicle spare parts.
The report shows that seizure data suggest that the role of Africa, especially West and Central Africa, as a transit zone for cocaine on its way to markets in Europe has picked up substantially since 2019. Both the total quantity seized in Africa and the number of large seizures appear to have reached record levels during 2021, according to preliminary data.
Back home, Malaba is a significant smuggling transit point of smaller consignments of the drug from the Coast to international transit locations through Kampala, and Kigali in Rwanda, as well as northward to Juba and Addis Ababa. Kenya is also a significant micro-trafficking point for the distribution of cocaine by air and sea to the Indian Ocean Island states of Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles.
When ingested cocaine sends high levels of dopamine, a natural chemical messenger in the body, into the parts of the brain that control pleasure. This buildup causes intense feelings of energy and alertness called a high. Illegal cocaine is often mixed with fillers such as cornstarch, or with other dangerous drugs like fentanyl.
The Global Cocaine Report, 2023 further reveals that Brazilian crime groups seem to be increasingly targeting Portuguese-speaking countries like Mozambique, Angola and Cabo Verde. And airports in Kenya and Ethiopia are also believed to have been targeted as “stopovers” en route from Brazil to Europe.
Cocaine use is on the rise at the global level. The number of people who use cocaine has been increasing at a faster rate than population growth. The main markets for cocaine worldwide are North America, Western and Central Europe followed by South and Central America and the Caribbean.
Some of the most sophisticated techniques to conceal cocaine involve impregnation into a carrier material, which can be textile, animal skins, rubber, or wool. In such cases, a complex process of chemical extraction is required.