THE cocaine and methamphetamine market is on the rise in Europe, said a European Union report, driven by record levels of trafficking and sparking violence and health issues.

The highest-ever amount of cocaine – 214.6 tonnes – was seized in the EU, Norway and Turkey for the fourth consecutive year in 2020, according to the report by Europol and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).

The EU faces a “growing threat from a more diverse and dynamic drug market, which relies on close collaboration between European and international criminal organisations”, said the report.

The market’s new nature results in “record levels of drug availability, increased violence and corruption, and worsening health woes”, said EMCDDA director Alexis Goosdeel in a statement.

Covid-induced disruptions did not particularly rattle the markets, and cocaine trafficking by sea continued at pre-2019 levels.

The cocaine market – the second most-consumed drug after cannabis in the EU – was worth at least 10.5 billion euros (RM48.2 billion) in 2020.

An estimated 14 million adults aged 15 to 65 in the bloc have tried the drug, which is either snorted as a white powder or smoked in a form widely known as crack cocaine.

Police seized most of the cocaine in Belgium, Netherlands and Spain in 2020, the three countries where the drug is mostly transformed after being produced in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru.

Methamphetamine, the most widely used synthetic stimulant drug in the world, plays a “relatively minor role in the drug market in Europe”, said the report, although the latest data suggests a “growing threat”.

Between 2010 and 2020, the number of methamphetamine seizures in the bloc more than doubled, while the quantities increased by 477% to 2.2 tonnes in 2020.

Production historically takes place in small “kitchen” laboratories in Czech Republic and neighbouring countries in Europe, but is now also occurring at industrial-scale laboratories in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Crystal methamphetamine is an “unwelcome addition to the EU drug market”, said the report, and a concern in terms of health outcomes, including “acute toxicity, polydrug use, psychotic episodes and death”.

In Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Spain, “competition between drug suppliers has intensified, leading to an increase in violent confrontations”, murders and kidnappings.

Corruption is a key threat in the EU, said the report, noting that nearly 60% of criminal networks use it as a facilitator. – AFP, May 6, 2022.