"Production, seizures, and use of cocaine all hit new highs in 2023, making cocaine the world's fastest-growing illicit drug market," the Vienna-based UNODC said in a statement on Thursday.
On the supply side, global estimated illegal production of cocaine rose by around a third to a record of more than 3708 tonnes, mainly because of an increase in the area devoted to illicit coca bush cultivation in Colombia and updated data that showed the yield there was roughly 50 per cent higher than in 2022.
The estimated number of cocaine users globally also kept growing, reaching 25 million people in 2023, up from 17 million 10 years earlier, the UNODC said.
"North America, Western and Central Europe and South America continue to constitute the largest markets for cocaine, on the basis of the number of people who used drugs in the past year and on data derived from wastewater analysis," it said.
The synthetic drug market also continues to expand, helped by low operational costs and reduced risk of detection for those making or smuggling the drugs, the UNODC said.
The leading drugs there were amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) such as methamphetamine and amphetamine.
"Seizures of ATS reached a record high in 2023 and accounted for almost half of all global seizures of synthetic drugs, followed by synthetic opioids, including fentanyl," the UNODC said.
