The Cocaine Market Is Bigger Than Ever

Production of cocaine has more than tripled since 2014.
It’s high time that our dullard politicians got with the story and did something about this huge problem. Our politicians faff around, worrying about whether people enjoy smoking a cigarette and banning their consumption in all public places, thereby creating a crisis of loneliness in the population, yet they do almost nothing to curtail the proliferation in the consumption of these very dangerous, hard drugs! Why are we paying these people so much when they do so little and are so ineffective? And lest we/they forget… The more politicians curtail people’s pleasures and means of enjoyment, the more they will seek out pleasures and enjoyment in other, illicit ways. — © Mark Alexander

Cocaine Is the Fastest-Growing Illegal Drug Worldwide. Here’s Why.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: A United Nations report found a rise in users, confiscation and deaths as cocaine trafficking expands into Africa and Asia, and violence spreads into Europe.

More people around the world are using illicit drugs than ever — more than 316 million in 2023.

Marijuana is the most used drug, followed by opioids and amphetamines. But it is the cocaine market that continues to break records year after year.

Global production reached a new high in 2023, racing to meet record demand and fueling new highs in cocaine-related deaths in many countries in recent years, according to a United Nations report released on Thursday.

An estimated 25 million people used cocaine worldwide in 2023 — up from 17 million a decade earlier. Production jumped by 34 percent from 2022.

Tracking the production and consumption of illicit drugs, including cocaine, is complex and time-consuming. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime’s annual World Drug Report, which this year includes data through 2023, is one of the few sources of global data on the illegal drug trade. » | Genevieve Glatsky | Genevieve Glatsky reported from Bogotá, Colombia. | Friday, June 27, 2025

Leer en español:

La cocaína es la droga ilegal que más crece en el mundo. Esta es la razón: Un informe de las Naciones Unidas revela un aumento de los consumidores, las confiscaciones y las muertes a medida que el tráfico de cocaína se expande por África y Asia, y la violencia se extiende por Europa. »

Fools worry about people enjoying a cigarette with all this going on! It is high time that health ministers in the West used their brains. Smoking a few cigarettes are the least of society’s problems; drug-use is the problem, not tobacco. What does it help a society to stub out cigarette smoking when the nation is high on drugs? How STUPID politicians are! – © Mark Alexander

Swiss Cocaine So Cheap and Widely Used They’re Considering Legalising It

THE TELEGRAPH: As prices halve on ‘highest quality we’ve ever seen’, Bern says ‘war on drugs has failed’ and looks at it being sold for recreational use

Switzerland has one of the highest levels of cocaine use in Europe
Switzerland’s capital is considering legalising cocaine after admitting the “war on drugs has failed”.

Bern is weighing up a pilot scheme to allow the sale of the class A narcotic for recreational use – a radical approach which is thought to be a worldwide first.

Switzerland has one of the highest levels of cocaine use in Europe, according to the levels of illicit drugs and their metabolites measured in waste water, with Zurich, Basel and Geneva all featuring in the top 10 cities in Europe. » | James Crisp, Europe Editor | Thursday, December 21, 2023

Cocaine for Germany | DW Documentary

Nov 23, 2023 | Germany is flooded with cocaine. Since 2017, cocaine residue in Berlin's sewage has doubled. Since the pandemic, sales of cocaine across Germany have rocketed. The addictive potential of the drug is often underestimated and legal prohibitions do little to deter dealers or users.

This documentary sheds light on new international smuggling routes and methods that are causing ever greater problems for law enforcement agencies. One indication of the rising wave of cocaine: although the number of controls in Germany has stagnated, the amount seized has doubled in recent years. In early 2021, customs investigators in the port of Hamburg made the largest cocaine find in Germany and Europe to date: 16 tons. Where does the cocaine come from and who is profiting from its smuggling and sale?


I wish Rishi Sunak would watch this alarming documentary. All Sunak worries about is people enjoying a relatively harmless cigarette made of tobacco. The scourge of hard drugs like this is what I call problematic, not whether a person enjoys the occasional cigarette, or not. The man needs to get some perspective.

WARNING: Under no circumstances is this documentary suitable for children; unquestionably, it is suitable only for adults. – © Mark Alexander

Inside the Port Flooding Europe with Cocaine - BBC News

Dec 17, 2022 | The port of Antwerp in Belgium is largely seen as the capital of cocaine trafficking in Europe. Corruption and violence are now on the rise and the drug is widely available on the streets. Europe correspondent Nick Beake visited the city to find out how the problem has developed.

The Economist: Why Belgium Is Now the Cocaine Capital of Europe

Nov 3, 2022 | With record seizures of cocaine at Belgian ports, the country has become Europe’s cocaine-trafficking capital. As the flow of drugs increases, local authorities are struggling with corruption and violence.

Deutsche Linkspartei will Heroin und Kokain legalisieren
DIE PRESSE: Eine humane Drogenpolitik ist für die deutsche Linkspartei nur mit der Legalisierung harter Drogen machbar. Als harte Drogen gelten Heroin oder Kokain.

Die deutsche Linkspartei tritt für die Legalisierung harter Drogen ein. Mit 211 Ja-Stimmen gegen 173 Nein-Stimmen sprach sich der Linken-Parteitag am Samstag in Erfurt bei 29 Enthaltungen für die Legalisierung aller Drogen aus. Damit kippten die Delegierten den Entwurf des Bundesvorstands, der nur den Konsum sogenannter weicher illegaler Drogen wie Haschisch zulassen wollte. Als harte Drogen gelten Heroin oder Kokain. Diese Rauschmittel werden von den meisten Experten wegen ihres großen Suchtpotenzials und der häufig verheerenden Auswirkungen auf Psyche und Gesundheit als besonders gefährlich eingestuft. » | Ag./Red. | Samstag 22. Oktober 2011

Coca Colla: The New 'Real Thing' in Bolivia
THE GUARDIAN: Bolivian president approves Coca-based dark soft drink / Coca-Cola company yet to comment on red-labelled beverage

Coca Colla being distributed in La Paz this week. The drink is named after the Bolivian Colla people. Photograph: The Guardian
A certain US soft drinks giant may disagree, but Bolivia has come up with a fizzy beverage it says is the real thing: Coca Colla.

The drink, made from the coca leaf and named after the indigenous Colla people from Bolivia's highlands, went on sale this week across the South American country.

It is black, sweet and comes in a bottle with a red label – but similarities to Coca-Cola end there. One is a symbol of US-led globalisation and corporate might; the other could be considered a socialist-tinged affront to western imperialism.

The first batch of 12,000 bottles, priced about $1.50 (96p) for half a litre, were distributed in the capital, La Paz, as well as Santa Cruz and Cochabamba.

The familiar-sounding name and packaging may rile the Atlanta-based soft drinks manufacturer, but Coca Colla could also cause groans in Washington.

It is made from the coca leaf, a mild stimulant that wards off fatigue and hunger, and has been used in the Andes for thousands of years in cooking, medicine and religious rites.

Coca is also the raw ingredient of cocaine, the powerful narcotic that is the primary target of the US-led "war on drugs".

Bolivia tried to wipe out the leaf at Washington's behest. But that was before Evo Morales, an Aymara Indian and coca grower, was elected president, championing coca as a crop with legitimate uses. >>> Rory Carroll | Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Looking Back: Barack Obama Raised as Muslim

Iran's Festive Drink and Drugs Binge
Drugs and alcohol consumption increase heavily during the Nowruz holiday. Photo: BBC
BBC: As Iran celebrates their New Year festival, Nowrouz, some Iranians turn increasingly to drugs and liquor to get them in the party mood.

Nowrouz lasts for two weeks and many people travel to the lush jungles and seaside villas of northern Iran to escape the hustle and bustle of city life.

But where ever they go imported and home produced alcohol, from vodka to Saki, are imbibed along with kebabs.

During the month building up to Nowrouz police statistics show that on average more than 25,000 cans of alcoholic drinks and some 135,000 litres of home-made liquor are hauled across Iran. This is despite the country-wide ban on alcohol imposed under Sharia law.

And, of course, strong homemade alcohol can be particularly dangerous. The AFP news agency recently reported police saying that 10 people had died from drinking poisonous homemade alcohol in a northern Iranian province.

Smuggling

But most of the domestic thirst for spirits is quenched with booze smuggled from Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey.

It is transferred to Kurdish towns such as Erbil in northern Iraq and then carried over the border into Iran.

Once over the border, the final price varies according to how easy it was to negotiate the treacherous terrain of western Iran while avoiding police patrols.

In total, some 14 million litres of liquor are distributed in Iran each year, according to the special anti-smuggling task force which is supervised by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

This is despite the severe punishment for those caught committing offences related to alcohol.

An Iranian convicted of drinking on three separate occasions could face death by hanging. There is little chance of a pardon. Turning to drugs >>> By Faraj Balafkan, BBC Persian Service | Friday, March 27, 2009

Watch YouTube video (Journeyman Pictures): Alcohol smuggling – Iran: June 2007 Fine wines. French cognacs. Scottish whiskies. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, all alcoholic tastes are catered for. We join the Kurdish smugglers keeping Iran's drinkers well lubricated. >>> | June 2007

YOUTUBE: Drug Use in Iran


YOUTUBE: Islamic Heroin Republic!