Pandemic alters drugs consumption and distribution, forcing gangs to adapt says UN

Record ID: 1559417

  • Title: Pandemic alters drugs consumption and distribution, forcing gangs to adapt says UN
  • Date: 27th June 2020
  • Summary: EL DORADO, SINALOA (RECENT - JUNE 4, 2020) (REUTERS) POLICE DISMANTLING METHANPHETAMINE LABORATORY CONTAINERS WITH SYNTHETIC DRUGS POLICE WITH RIFLE STANDING IN MIDDLE OF LAB CONTAINERS IN LAB VARIOUS OF WOMAN HOLDING COCAINE CONTAINERS WITH SYNTHETIC DRUGS POLICEMAN WALKING AWAY
  • Embargoed: 11th July 2020 21:37
  • Keywords: Crime Drugs Mexican Navy UN report trafficking
  • Location: MEXICO CITY / EL DORADO, SINALOA / GUAYMAS, SONORA, MEXICO
  • City: MEXICO CITY / EL DORADO, SINALOA / GUAYMAS, SONORA, MEXICO
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA002CK5B9ZB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: AUDIO AS INCOMING
    Measures implemented by governments to counter COVID-19 have affected all aspects of the illicit drug markets, from production and trafficking to consumption, according to a report by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
    The report - presented during a webinar on Friday (June 26), in which authorities, diplomats and civil society participated from Latin America - states that various countries reported shortages of various drugs at retail, price increases and purity reductions.
    It also said consumers have switched substances, for example, from heroin to synthetic opioids. The coronavirus outbreak has upended industries across the globe. The international narcotics trade has not been spared. Traffickers are grappling with many of the same woes as legitimate businesses, Reuters has found.
    Kristian Hölge, UNODC's representative in Mexico, said drug traffickers started to find alternatives to key ingredients due to a reduction in supplies from Asia. This, he said, was difficult to control.
    ''Only in 2018, 48 new synthetic substances emerged. Even though we were driven to oversee the components of these drugs, the market - in simple terms - usually has an advantage over us. As soon as we have finished controlling a chemical precursor, criminal groups have already found or designed a substitute. In Mexico, methanphetamine and fentanyl producers started recurring to this tactic to replace Asian supplies they have stopped receiving due to the pandemic.''
    Hölge added criminal organisations were adapting and finding new ways to distribute drugs.
    ''We are faced with a rapid process of adaptation on behalf of the criminal organisations. El 'lockdown' (quarantine) has reduced demand as well as trafficking opportunities but as is expected, cartels are inventing new modalities of trafficking and distribution,'' Hölge said.
    Latin America is the epicentre of a global drugs trade that is estimated to be worth up to $650 billion a year, according to Global Financial Integrity, a U.S.-based think tank. Gangs reap huge profits producing and transporting cocaine, marijuana, methanphetamine, heroin and fentanyl that is sold worldwide.
    (Production: Manuel Carrillo, Geraldine Downer)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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