Cocaine production, seizures, and use all hit record highs in 2023, the UN drug agency said on Thursday, June 26th with the illicit drug’s market the world’s fastest-growing.
Illegal production jumped to 3,708 tons, nearly 34% more than in 2022, and more than four times higher than ten years earlier, when it was at a low, the Vienna-based UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in its annual report.
The current surge is mainly due to an increase in the size of the area under illicit coca bush cultivation in Colombia and updated yield data, it added.
Global cocaine seizures, too, recorded a high of 2,275 tons, marking a 68% rise in the four years to 2023.
The number of cocaine users also grew to 25 million in 2023, up from 17 million ten years earlier.
“Cocaine has become fashionable for the more affluent society,” UNODC chief researcher Angela Me said, noting a “vicious cycle” of increased use and production.
While Colombia remains the key producer, cocaine traffickers are breaking into new markets across Asia and Africa, according to the report, with organised crime groups from the Western Balkans increasing their influence.
