Filenews 6 May 2022
Europe is increasingly becoming a hub for the production and dispatch of cocaine to other parts of the world, in addition to being a large consumer market for this drug, European Union agencies said today, which also warned of the expanding methamphetamine industry.
After cannabis, cocaine is the most consumed drug in Europe, with millions of users and sales of around €10.5 billion. in 2020, according to a joint report by the EU law enforcement agency Europol, and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) presented today in Brussels.
The European market is growing, driven by greater production in Latin America and also by the expansion of the processing capacity of the raw drug in Europe itself. It could increase even more with the development of new types of cocaine products that are smoked, the report said, warning of increased health risks.
"More production is also taking place now within Europe, indicating changes in the role of this region in the international cocaine trade," the report said.
Belgium appears to be at the centre of Europe's cocaine industry, according to data collected by EU agencies. It is the EU country that seized the largest quantities of cocaine in 2020, the last year for which data are available, with a total of 70 tonnes seized in Belgium mainly in the port of Antwerp, compared to 49 tonnes in the Netherlands, the second European country in seizures.
Belgium is also a leading country in the processing of cocaine paste, along with the Netherlands and Spain, according to the report, which cites as evidence seizures of large quantities of chemical precursors for cocaine production and information on processing facilities.
Cocaine imported into Europe from South America is increasingly being exported to other parts of the world, mainly the Middle East and Asia, making Europe "a key point for the transit of drugs coming from elsewhere," the report said.
The European methamphetamine market is also growing, but remains much smaller than that for cocaine, according to the report, which notes that it is difficult to estimate its exact size.
The synthetic stimulant is traditionally produced mainly in the Czech Republic and consumed in Eastern Europe, but new evidence shows that demand is increasing in Western Europe, especially in Belgium, which has become a major producer of the drug.
"There is now a growing concern about production facilities located in Belgium and the Netherlands, where methamphetamine can be produced on a significantly larger scale," the report said.
Europe is one of the world's leading regions in methamphetamine production, and European producers are now increasingly working with Mexican criminal gangs to improve production processes, EU agencies warned.
