Cocaine production is surging! And it's mostly coming from these three countries

The United Nations released a new report on the worldwide cocaine market and, well, people love cocaine apparently.

Probably not a surprise but Colombia is one of the countries… Photo by Niels van Altena on Unsplash

Geography is a funny subject to study, ready about, and actively participate in. While it can be as simple as looking at where people live, or where different types of flora or fauna inhabit, it can also take you down some very odd informational alleys. Case and point: over the weekend I noticed that the United Nations released a new-ish report (it came out in March of this year) on the global state of cocaine and now here I am writing an article on what it says. Geography really is everything!

Anyway, I read the full report so you don’t have to, but it’s very interesting and if you want to give it a look over yourself you can find it right here. I won’t be summarizing the whole thing, but rather focusing on the geography of it all. Mainly as it relates to three questions:

1. Where is cocaine primarily being produced?

2. Where is cocaine primarily being used?

3. Where is cocaine being trafficked through?

So let’s dive in!

Cocaine is primarily coming from three countries

Photo by Colin Davis on Unsplash

The global supply chain of cocaine has seen dramatic shifts over the last decade, reaching record levels in recent years. This comes after a period of decline that lasted almost ten years, bottoming out in 2014. And this is almost entirely facilitated through three South American countries: Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia. South America as a whole has a complex relationship with cocaine production to say the very least. Mostly because it’s where the coca plant, the plant that provides the raw material for cocaine, is grown naturally and therefor the best.

The coca plant, the source of cocaine, has been grown in the Andes for thousands of years and was originally used for medicinal and spiritual purposes. However, the criminalization of cocaine in the 20th century transformed it from a local agricultural product into the epicenter of global drug trafficking.

And probably to the surprise of no one, Colombia has been the most significant player in the story of cocaine production. Starting in the 1970s, drug cartels like the Medellín and Cali cartels became powerful entities, often outgunning and outspending local law enforcement and even the military. These cartels became so influential that they posed direct threats to national security, culminating in periods of extreme violence and corruption. Efforts like Plan Colombia, financed by the United States, aimed to curb cocaine production but had mixed results, often leading to human rights abuses and the displacement of rural communities.

Peru and Bolivia have similar stories but have adopted different approaches to combat the problem. Peru has oscillated between eradication and alternative development strategies, often influenced by U.S. foreign policy. Bolivia, on the other hand, has explored a more radical path by legalizing coca cultivation for traditional uses, challenging the conventional wisdom that complete eradication is the only solution.

At the end of the day, the vast majority of all cocaine originates in these countries. That’s neither new, nor surprising But what is surprising is where it’s going and how it’s getting there.

Who is buying and using cocaine?

The consumption of cocaine is not limited to just a handful of countries. Truly it is a global commodity at this point — albeit an illegal one — but the levels of use vary significantly from one country to another. According to reports from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and other international organizations, the highest rates of cocaine use are generally found in North America and Western Europe. This is reconfirmed by the U.N.’s latest report on cocaine.

The United States consistently ranks among the top consumers of cocaine. As of the latest reports, approximately 2.3% of Americans aged 18 to 25 have used cocaine at least once in the past year. That’s a pretty shocking statistic, if true. While 2.3% might not seem high, for a highly controlled drug it really is!

In Europe, the United Kingdom stands out as one of the highest consumers of the drug. Research suggests that around 2.6% of young adults in the UK have used cocaine in the last year. But Europe in general has seen a steady rise over recent years. A report from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction illustrates this rise. Their data shows that an estimated 4.5 million Europeans aged between 15 and 64 had used cocaine in the past year, an increase from 3.5 million in 2004. The data is a little old at this point, but the U.N. reports notes that the trend has continued.

Australia also ranks high when it comes to cocaine use, particularly among young adults. The high price of the drug in the country does not seem to deter users, indicating a strong demand despite the financial barriers.

It's worth noting that cocaine use is rising in some countries where it was previously relatively uncommon. For instance, Brazil and Argentina have experienced an increase in cocaine consumption in recent years, likely due to their geographical proximity to producing countries and changing social attitudes toward drug use.

How does cocaine get to the United States and Europe?

As already covered, the majority of coca bush cultivation occurs in Colombia (61%), followed by Peru (26%) and Bolivia (13%). And as such, most global cocaine seizures take place in South and Central America and the Caribbean, making up 72% of total seizures, with Western and Central Europe at 15% and North America at 12%. But there’s a new cocaine trafficking hot spot that the U.N. is starting to observe: Africa.

Africa, particularly West and Central Africa, has increasingly become a transit zone for cocaine headed to Europe since 2019, reaching record levels of large seizures in 2021. Although cocaine use in Africa is not yet high, there is a potential risk for growth. Particularly as countries become more wealthy. Typically you also start to see internal illicit trading and selling soon after trafficking begins. And trafficking through West and Central Africa can largely be tracked to a single, but global, event: the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is probably not too surprising, but the Covid-19 pandemic has a dramatic impact on drug transportation methods, as well as transportation methods in general. Due to reduced passenger flights, traffickers had to increasingly use international mail services to smuggle cocaine. This trend, which was already emerging prior to the pandemic, accelerated during this time. And because of this new tactic, West African countries have had a significant increase in cocaine smuggled in small parcels to Europe and beyond. Similar trends have been observed in Costa Rica and the U.K. as well.

Other smuggling methods have evolved as well, including the use of fishing and merchant vessels, container ships with front companies, and even specially built, sometimes unmanned, submarines. One such submarine was recently found off Spain's north coast, believed to have transported cocaine from Colombia to Spain.

But all told, Africa is sort of a new frontier for this market, which also probably explains why Europe is using more and more cocaine as well.

Again, I know this is kind of a dark article about a illegal and illicit trade that has caused a lot of harm. I’m certainly not trying to make light of it. But the geographies involved in it are very interesting. Criminal enterprises, if nothing else, are not ones to lack for geographic knowledge and creativity.