UNODC Warns of Rise in Cocaine Smuggling

PeopleOther ♦ Published: March 19, 2023; 20:32 ♦ (Vindobona)

After a slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, global cocaine production has exploded in the past two years, according to a new report from the Vienna-based United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

“The surge in the global cocaine supply should put all of us on high alert,” stated UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly. / Picture: © UNODC/Max Brucker / Flickr Attribution (CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

The UN agency expresses concern about the new diversification in organized crime related to cocaine. The Global Report on Cocaine 2023, details how coca cultivation increased by 35 percent from 2020 to 2021, the fastest increase since 2016. According to UNODC, the global supply of cocaine is at record levels.

According to UNODC, the increase is the result of both increased…