The cocaine trade is driving much of the increase in the drugs market as a result of record production levels in South America and record seizures in the EU.
he EU Drugs Market Report 2019 says the €30bn estimate includes minimum valuations for the following drugs:
- Cannabis market worth €11.6bn;
- Cocaine market worth €9.1bn;
- Heroin market worth €7.4bn
- Amphetamine market worth €1bn;
- MDMA (ecstasy) market with €500 million
The report, compiled by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (Emcdda) and Europol, the EU's respective drugs and police agencies, said production estimates for cocaine and seizures of the drug in Europe were at “record levels” in 2017.
It said that Columbian and Italian organised crime groups traditionally played a central role in the trafficking and distribution of cocaine but that increasingly other groups were becoming more significant.
Source: Cormac O'Keeffe, Irish Examiner, 26th November 2019
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