UN: Cocaine Market Booms, Meth Trafficking Spreads

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Facts

  • According to a UN report released Sunday, cocaine supply and demand have boomed while methamphetamine ("meth") has expanded beyond established markets.1
  • The UN's Office on Drugs and Crime said that in 2021, the latest year for which data is available, cocaine cultivation and production reached record highs, with the number of users worldwide reaching 22M and steadily rising.1
  • The overall number of people using drugs globally also rose 23% to 296M, up from 240M in 2011, with drug use disorders up 45% to 39.5M over the same period. Only 20% of these individuals are receiving treatment.2
  • Almost 90% of meth seized worldwide is still found in East and Southeast Asia and North America, however, meth's prevalence has increased in the Middle East and West Africa. The "global cocaine market" is "concentrated" in the Americas and Western and Central Europe, but has grown in Africa, Asia, and Southeastern Europe.3
  • The growing meth market in Afghanistan, where 80% of the world's illicit opium is grown, suggests a shift in the country's drug economy, with the report questioning whether the meth and heroin markets "will develop in parallel or whether one will substitute the other."4
  • The majority of the roughly 90k opioid-related overdose deaths in North America in 2021 involved synthetic meth, and the report further warned "there are signs" the Ukraine War "could trigger an expansion of the manufacture and trafficking of synthetic drugs" given the "existing know-how" and "large markets" in the region.2

Sources: 1Reuters, 2Al Jazeera, 3VOA, and 4ThePrint.

Narratives

  • Left narrative, as provided by Open Society Foundations. The global war on drugs, kickstarted by the US decades ago, has failed to mitigate the drug trade — and the drugs are only getting more lethal. Governments need to start investing in addiction treatment rather than punishment for what is a disease that has infected countless people worldwide. Yes, we need to try and stem the drug trade, but that goal cannot be accomplished with harsh prison sentences for the victims of these addictive substances alone.
  • Right narrative, as provided by CIS. The country with by far the most drug overdoses is the US, and that's directly related to its policy of unchecked mass migration across the southern border. The victims of these lethal drugs do deserve to be taken care of, but mitigating this health crisis can't start until opioids and other deadly substances are kept from ever entering the country in the first place. No matter what country it is, leaving the door wide open for smugglers can only lead to a worse situation.

Predictions