The Office of the United Nations Organization against Drugs and Crime (UNODC), indicated this Wednesday in its World Drug Report 2019, that more than 70 percent of the cocaine existing in the world is produced in Colombia.
“Driven by a strong rise in Colombia, the world production of cocaine marked a new record in 2017, surpassing by 25 percent the previous one in 2016,” he said.
The UNODC research chief, Angela Me, said: “Of course it is bad news. It is bad news for producing countries. What is happening in Colombia is worrying.”
The report states that between 2013 and 2017, coca crops in Colombia went from 46,000 hectares to 171,000, which represents an increase of 50 percent.
It also explains that in 2017, authorities intercepted a record amount of the drug: in total, 1,275 tons were seized, 13 percent more than last year.
Specialists point out that cocaine production in Colombia has increased due to the proliferation of plantations in remote places, and the emergence of new criminal gangs, despite the efforts made to move rural communities away from coca cultivation.
The UN also points out that the United States is the main consumer of drugs in the world, despite the fact that US President Donald Trump accused Colombian President Ivan Duque of not doing anything to stop the flow of drugs to the United States.
The North American opioid crisis also reached a new record in 2017, with more than 47,000 deaths from overdoses with that substance in the United States, according to the report.
The United Nations also raised its estimate of deaths linked to drug use in the world to some 585,000 in 2017, compared to the 450,000 deaths it estimated to have occurred in 2015.
Source URL: Correo del Orinoco with OT content
Translated by JRE/
