Cocaine in $$$ - expanding drug market
Once known as the "drug of the rich," cocaine remains one of the most widely used narcotics in the Western world. With approximately 900 users, Brazil is the second largest consumer in the Americas, behind only the United States.
The 2008 World Drug Report indicated that Brazil had approximately 870 cocaine users and that consumption had increased from 0,4% to 0,7% among people aged 12 to 65 between 2001 and 2004, equivalent to a growth of about 75%. Today, Brazil maintains its position as the second largest market in the Americas, with approximately 900 users, behind only the United States, with about six and a half million consumers.
Worldwide, the market for this drug – one of the most devastating and dangerous – continues to evolve. Recent studies related to the values linked to the cocaine market reveal interesting conclusions. In Europe, its price varies according to the country where it is sold. In Italy, 10 years ago, a gram of cocaine was about 30% more expensive than it is today. Furthermore, according to the World Drug Report 2011, less cocaine is consumed in all of Asia than in a single large European country. These are just some aspects of the global market for the substance that was once considered the drug of the rich, and which is now dramatically widespread. Many of these and other details can be seen in the infographic recently published by the website. Good.is.
A Western syndrome
The map to the right of the infographic shows the percentage of cocaine consumption in the world: 41% of the drug produced is sold in the United States and the rest of North America. 19% is in South America (mainly Brazil), where coca is cultivated and taken to the rest of the world by drug traffickers. Europe consumes about 28%. The other continents get the crumbs: in all of Asia, for example, about 3% of the cocaine produced in the world is consumed. This is less than is consumed, for example, between Italy and France. But note: this does not mean that the inhabitants of Asian countries are far from the consumption of narcotics. Other substances are trafficked in Asia. Burma is the world's main producer of ketamine, a powerful veterinary anesthetic with hallucinogenic effects, also known in Europe (in 2009, a huge shipment of 24 million ketamine pills was seized in Burma).
(click on the image to enlarge)
Prices go up and down.
The contrast between the cocaine market in the United States and Europe over the past few years is also striking (top left in the infographic). From 1999 to 2009, in the United States, there was a decrease: from $448 billion to $378 billion. In Europe, on the contrary, the figures more than doubled: from $148 billion to $338 billion.
Between 1999 and 2009, the retail cost of cocaine also changed. While in France, Austria, Belgium, and Switzerland a gram of cocaine costs roughly the same as it did ten years ago, in Germany, Portugal, Spain, and Greece the price increased. But in Italy, the United Kingdom, and Luxembourg, the price decreased. The average European price is around 80 euros (about 100 dollars) per gram, ranging from 50 euros per gram in the Netherlands to 120 euros in Norway.