Global cocaine market hits new high as Colombia boosts cultivation, UN reports

(AFP) Cocaine production, seizures, and consumption all hit record levels in 2023, the UN drug agency reported Thursday, citing a rise in illicit cultivation in Colombia.

Illegal production soared to 3,708 tons in 2023—an increase of nearly 34% compared to 2022—and is now ten times higher than the low recorded a decade ago, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) revealed in its annual report.

The increase is primarily attributed to a larger area of illicit coca leaf cultivation in Colombia and updated yield data from the Andean country, the UNODC, a UN agency based in Vienna, said.

"In contrast, the area under coca leaf production in the Plurinational State of Bolivia stabilized in 2023, while the area under coca leaf production in Peru decreased slightly," the report said.

In Colombia, the world’s largest cocaine producer, the UNODC recorded over 975 square miles of coca leaf cultivation.

In an October 2024 report, the agency stated that Colombia produced 2,600 tons of cocaine in 2023, marking a 53% increase over the previous year.

The regions in southwestern Colombia with the largest net increase in coca cultivation are strongholds of FARC guerrilla dissidents, who refused to sign the peace agreement and continue to control the lucrative drug trade and daily life across vast rural areas.

The UNODC reported that global cocaine seizures also reached a record high of 2,275 tons, a 68% increase over the four years leading up to 2023.

The number of cocaine users also rose to 25 million, up from 17 million a decade ago. 

"Cocaine has become fashionable in more affluent societies," said Angela Me, UNODC research director, who claimed that there is "vicious circle" between increased consumption and production.

Colombia remains the top producer, but traffickers have successfully expanded into new markets in Asia and Africa, the report said.

"The violence and competition that characterize the illicit cocaine arena, previously confined to Latin America, is spreading to Western Europe as organized crime groups from the Western Balkans increase their influence in the market," the UN agency said in a statement.

Rising violence in Ecuador

The UNODC noted that cocaine trafficking has been particularly prominent among criminal groups operating in the Americas.

The UN agency cited Ecuador as an example, where violence surged and the homicide rate jumped from 7.8 per 100,000 people in 2020 to 45.7 per 100,000 in 2023.

Regarding drug use, the agency estimated that 6% of the population aged 15 to 64 used drugs in 2023, up from 5.2% in 2013.

Seizures of amphetamine-type stimulants also reached a record high in 2023, making up nearly half of all global synthetic drug seizures, followed by synthetic opioids like fentanyl, the UN agency reported.

The fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria last December has created "uncertainty about the future of the captagon trade," the UNODC noted.

Earlier this month, Syria’s new interim authorities reported seizing all production facilities for the illicit stimulant, which had become the country’s main export during the al-Assad regime.

“The latest seizure data from 2024 and 2025 confirm that captagon continues to circulate, primarily in countries on the Arabian Peninsula. This could indicate either the release of previously stockpiled supplies or ongoing production in various locations,” the UN agency said.