Global cocaine trade will evolve rapidly

Significance

Wide availability of cheap, pure cocaine internationally is driven by record levels of coca cultivation, stockpiles of cocaine that accumulated during COVID-19 lockdowns and innovation in manufacture, trafficking and distribution.

Impacts

• Further evidence of a cocaine surge will increase pressure on governments to scale up cocaine-related treatment services.
• Governments will leverage Africa’s status as a transit hub and future cocaine market to boost donor support for anti-narcotics efforts.
• Discoveries of coca bushes in countries such as Guatemala suggest cultivation may eventually spread beyond the Andean region.