HomeNewsBriefShould UN Be Trumpeting Global Cocaine Market Decline?
BRIEF

Should UN Be Trumpeting Global Cocaine Market Decline?

COCA / 5 MAR 2014 BY MICHAEL LOHMULLER EN

United Nations figures indicate coca cultivation and cocaine production in Latin America has dropped, but questions remain over the numbers, while signs drug cartels are increasingly diversifying into other products and illicit activities show there is little reason for optimism.

The most recent International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) report of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says most indicators show the global cocaine market is in decline, with the cultivation of coca falling "considerably."

According to the report, the estimated 133,700 hectares of coca cultivated in South America in 2012 represents a 13 percent drop compared to the previous year and the lowest cultivation levels since 1999. Colombia registered a 25 percent reduction in hectares produced during that period, while Peru and Bolivia also saw decreases, the report says.

Heroin production, however, increased significantly on a global scale. In Guatemala, the INCB reported eradication of opium poppy tripled from under 500 hectares in 2007 to over 1,500 hectares in 2011. Mexican heroin seizures decreased in 2012, but opium seizures increased slightly, to around 1,471 kilos.

Latin American producers are responsible for 96 percent of heroin seized in the United States, according to a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) analysis cited in the report.

InSight Crime Analysis

The conclusions about cocaine cultivation and production drawn by the UNODC are debatable. International law enforcement sources consulted by InSight Crime were dubious about the UN's statistics. This data is also dependent on inconsistent factors, such as host nation reporting, satellite imagery, and shipment seizures. Meanwhile, cocaine producers are now employing more efficient methods, meaning declining cultivation does not necessarily equate to lower production.

SEE ALSO: Coverage of Drug Policy

Even if cocaine production is going down, the simultaneous increase in world heroin production is one sign drug groups have merely diversified into other products. While major criminal groups in Colombia and Mexico were formerly largely empowered by the international cocaine trade, today's organizations have become involved in heroin and synthetic drug trafficking, as these drugs continue to gain popularity in the world's illicit drug market. A case in point is the heroin epidemic in Chicago, which US authorities have blamed on the Sinaloa Cartel.

These groups also increasingly control and profit from an array of other illicit enterprises, including illegal mining, contraband, extortion and micro-trafficking, meaning a decline in the cocaine market says little about the cash flow and continued power of criminal groups.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Tags

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

COCAINE / 25 APR 2022

Mexican authorities have arrested a leader of the initially Guerrero-based Los Rojos crime group in the neighboring state of Michoacán,…

COCA / 1 MAR 2023

Social leaders in Putumayo, Colombia, hope coca crop substitution can bring opportunities to communities. But supporting it may mean death.

ARGENTINA / 5 JUL 2022

Why did drug trafficking enjoy such a boom during the COVID-19 pandemic…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…