US Report Says Cocaine Production Is At Its Highest Level On Record

 

BBC: Cocaine production reaches record levels as new trafficking hubs emerge 

Global cocaine production has reached record levels as demand rebounds following Covid lockdowns, a new report has found. 

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime said coca cultivation rose by 35% between 2020 and 2021 to record levels. 

Findings suggest new hubs for trafficking have emerged in West and Central Africa. 

The report also said traffickers were using international postal services more often to get drugs to consumers. 

"Globally, the use of parcel and courier services increased significantly during the Covid-related lockdown due to restrictions on passenger flights," the Global Report on Cocaine report said. 

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WNU Editor: The Global Report On Cocaine 2023 is here (link here). 

US Report Says Cocaine Production Is At Its Highest Level On Record  

Cocaine trafficking surges following COVID-19-related slowdown -- UN News  

Cocaine smuggling and production at record high since pandemic retreat -- CNBC 

Cocaine production at record levels, drug seizures rising faster: UN -- Business Insider

'High alert': Cocaine production, smuggling on the rise after pandemic-related slowdown -- NYDaily News

Global Cocaine Production Is Booming

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Yahoo: 'This is really quite dramatic': Cocaine is booming like never before

A massive surge in cocaine production has flooded markets around the world, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

In their latest annual report, UN researchers noted that “estimated global illicit manufacture of cocaine reached an all-time high of 1,976 tons… in 2017, an increase of 25 per cent on the previous year.”

Last year, UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov said that “drug markets are expanding, with cocaine and opium production hitting absolute record highs, presenting multiple challenges on multiple fronts.” This year, that trend continued with cocaine while opium production declined.

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Update: Why is Colombia's cocaine production so high? (DW)

WNU Editor: The UNODC's report is here .... The World Drug Report 2019.

Colombia Is No Longer The World's Top Cocaine Producer

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime "World Drug Report 2011". The Washington Post. Published on April 10, 2012, 11:42 a.m.

US: Peru Overtakes Colombia As Top Cocaine Producer -- NBC

Peru has again become the top producer of pure cocaine in the world, outpacing Colombia, where output fell by an estimated 25 percent in a year, according to a White House report issued Monday.

Drug czar Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said Monday that potential cocaine production in Colombia was down by 72 percent since 2001. Colombia now ranks third, behind Bolivia in addition to Peru.

"Potential production of pure cocaine in Colombia is down to 195 metric tons (in 2011) from 700 metric tons in 2001, the lowest production potential level since 1994 and the first time since 1995 that Colombia is producing less cocaine than either Peru or Bolivia," Kerlikowske said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

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More News On The Decline Of Cocaine Production In Colombia, And Increasing In Peru

Cocaine production drops by 25 percent in Colombia -- AP
Colombia cocaine production drops 25%, says US report -- BBC
White House says Colombia not leader in cocaine -- USA Today
Cocaine Production Largely Declined in Colombia -- FOX News
U.S. Drug Czar Says Colombia Cocaine Output Behind Peru, Bolivia -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Colombia no longer top cocaine producer -- USA Today
White House Touts Drops in Cocaine Colombian Production, US Consumption -- US News and World Report
Peru now top cocaine producer, followed by Bolivia -- Seattle Times/L.A. Times

The New Front Lines In The War Against Cocaine

One expert calls it the 'whack-a-mole policy' to try to deal with the migrating cocaine business. Ben Wiseman

Cocaine: The New Front Lines -- Wall Street Journal

Colombia's success in curbing the drug trade has created more opportunities for countries hostile to the United States. What happens when coca farmers and their allies are in charge?

In the dusty town of Villa Tunari in Bolivia's tropical coca-growing region, farmers used to barricade their roads against U.S.-backed drug police sent to prevent their leafy crop from becoming cocaine. These days, the police are gone, the coca is plentiful and locals close off roads for multiday block parties—not rumbles with law enforcement.

"Today, we don't have these conflicts, not one death, not one wounded, not one jailed," said Leonilda Zurita, a longtime coca-grower leader who is now a Bolivian senator, a day after a 13-piece Latin band wrapped up a boozy festival in town.

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My Comment: These countries are ambivalent to the destruction that their crop is producing .... especially in countries like Mexico. All that they care about is the money .... and in cocoa/cocaine production .... lets face it .... there is a lot of money.

A Look At the Cocaine Route Form Colombia To North America

The Cocaine Road - From Colombia To Columbus -- Ledger Enquirer

From tunnels to ships, manufacturers come up with new ways to get drug into states

It’s a long way from Colombia to Columbus.

But cocaine finds a way, from the farmer’s field to the dealer’s corner. And between the farmer trying to feed his family and the crackhead feeding his addiction, a lot of people make a lot of money.

It’s a multinational trade, ranging the Western Hemisphere as far as from Peru to Canada, as not all the cocaine that comes into the United States stops here. Some keeps going.

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My Comment: Bottom line .... people, monies, resources, users .... a good section of our society is involved in this business, and will continue to be involved as long as our current policy to combat drug addition and supply continues.

U.S. And Colombian Agents Have Just Busted The World's Biggest Drug "Super Cartel"

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World's Biggest Drugs 'Super Cartel' Smashed By US Authorities In Colombia -- The Telegraph

The world’s biggest drugs and money laundering "super cartel" in Colombia has been smashed by the American government, officials said.

Anti-drug agents arrested and charged dozens of members of the powerful Colombian cartel, including two major kingpins, after a series of raids across South America.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, estimated the cartel made an estimated $5 billion (£3.37bn) profit from their trade over the past few years.

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Update: U.S. Targets Powerful, Profitable "Super Cartel" -- CBS News

My Comment: This bust will impact the world's cocaine market. From the drug cartel wars in Mexico to the price of cocaine on the street in the U.S. and Europe .... everyone is going to be impacted.

Bolivia Moves To Legalize Coca Production

Saturnino Mamani, with his son beside him, stands in his coca fields in Los Yungas. Photograph: Andrés Schipani/Guardian Weekly

Bolivian Leader Moves To Legalize Small Coca Plots -- ABC News

LA PAZ, Bolivia - President Evo Morales said Saturday that he plans to make it legal for Bolivia's farmers to grow small parcels of coca plants. Morales, who also heads a coca growers association, said he wants to permit individual farmers to cultivate coca plots of 40 meters by 40 meters (130 feet by 130 feet). Coca leaf is the key ingredient of cocaine.

The president predicted the measure will be enacted, noting he won re-election Dec. 6 with 64 percent of the vote and commands a strong majority in the national legislature.

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My Comment: The Bolivian Government is laying the groundwork to officially become a narco producing state. The outcome of such legislation will be a major increase in the production of coca leaves, with the hope (and intent) that small farmers can earn extra revenues from growing this crop. But if history is any indication, this policy will result in disaster for Bolivia within one generation.

Every country that has either turned a blind eye to narcotics and/or legalized the production of narcotics eventually ended up with a major narcotics problem. Colombia, Mexico, and Peru are South America's stellar examples of this policy, but countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan are also examples of what happens when the production of narcotics is permitted. In Afghanistan .... aside from the war .... opium addiction plagues a sizable percentage of the population, bringing with it all of the social and medical problems associated with this type of addiction. The poppy crops may bring a small income to the Afghan farmers who grow it, but the political, medical, social, and economic hardships that it brings makes the entire enterprise (and policy) a tragedy that approaches biblical proportions.

For Bolivia .... by decriminalizing the production of small coca crops .... we will not have to wait long for the eventual increase in the production of cocaine and the criminal enterprises that are dependent on it. And I predict .... that within one generation .... cocaine and the violence that it ALWAYS spawns will become Bolivia's #1 social, political, and health problem.