Global cocaine production, seizures, and use hit record highs in 2023 – UN report

Cocaine production, trafficking, and consumption reached unprecedented levels in 2023, making it the fastest-growing illicit drug market in the world, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported on Thursday.

According to the agency’s annual report, illegal cocaine production soared to 3,708 tons last year—a 34% increase from 2022 and more than four times higher than a decade ago, when output was at a historic low. The spike is largely attributed to the expanded cultivation of coca bushes in Colombia and improved data on crop yields.

Global cocaine seizures also hit a new record, reaching 2,275 tons—a 68% increase over the past four years.

The number of users worldwide rose to 25 million in 2023, up from 17 million in 2013. UNODC’s chief researcher Angela Me described the trend as part of a “vicious cycle,” noting that cocaine use has increasingly become associated with wealthier segments of society.

While Colombia remains the dominant producer, the report warns that cocaine traffickers are rapidly expanding into emerging markets across Asia and Africa. Criminal networks based in the Western Balkans are also playing a growing role in the global supply chain.

“A new era of global instability has intensified the world drug crisis,” the UNODC stated, emphasizing that organized crime has been emboldened, leading to a surge in drug use and trafficking.

In 2023, an estimated 6% of people aged 15 to 64 used some form of drug, up from 5.2% a decade earlier. Cannabis continues to be the most widely used drug worldwide.

The report also highlighted record seizures of amphetamine-type stimulants, which now account for nearly half of all global synthetic drug seizures. Synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, followed closely behind.