The US president's crackdown on drug trafficking in the Caribbean region threatens to divert drugs to Europe, a German official warns, BTA writes.
"Criminal networks are responding with detours, new transit countries and often even more powerful "substitute substances"", said the German commissioner for drugs and addiction, quoted by "Bild".
US President Donald Trump's war on drugs threatens to lead to an even greater flood of illegal drugs in Europe, he noted.
In recent weeks, the US administration has launched air strikes against what it calls South American drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
"The US's tougher stance on drug cartels in Colombia and Venezuela is unlikely to ease the situation in Europe or Germany - on the contrary: experience shows that criminal networks react with detours, new transit countries and often even more potent "substitute substances", German Commissioner for Drugs and Addiction and virologist Hendrik Streck told "Bild".
"For Germany, this would mean possible changes in sea and land routes, as well as in digital distribution. We already have highly dynamic structures of organized crime - especially online. The "war on drugs" declared by the US administration could intensify this even more," he added.
Streck, who is pushing for a partial withdrawal of cannabis legalization in Germany, described the drug situation in Germany as an "imminent" crisis. He warned that cocaine prices are falling, that users are getting younger and that drug-related deaths among people under 30 will increase dramatically.
More cocaine is heading to Europe
According to the European Union Drug Agency (EUDA), the availability of cocaine continues to increase across Europe. In 2023, for the seventh consecutive year, EU member states reported a record amount of cocaine seized.
The US government is continuously expanding its campaign against drug traffickers. Recently, US forces launched another attack on a suspected smuggling vessel off the west coast of Colombia, killing two people. The attack has heightened tensions between the two countries.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth confirmed the deadly attack in a social media post, saying such operations would continue "day after day".
Cocaine is the second most commonly used illicit drug in Europe after cannabis, according to the AECN. Although prevalence rates and patterns of use vary widely between countries, the availability of the drug continues to increase. There are also growing concerns that the health and social costs associated with the drug are increasing significantly.
Cocaine is commonly available in two forms in Europe. The most common is cocaine powder, and less commonly, crack cocaine (a form that can be smoked). Cocaine is made from the coca plant, which is grown in South America. It enters Europe via a variety of routes, but the trafficking of wholesale cocaine through European seaports in intermodal trade containers contributes to the high availability of the drug. Countries with large ports handling containers used by cocaine traffickers have documented high levels of drug-related crime, including corruption of supply chain personnel, threats and violence.
Competition in the cocaine market, both wholesale and retail, is a significant factor in drug-related crime, including gang-related violence and homicide in some countries. At the same time, cocaine use, and in particular crack cocaine, appears to be increasing, particularly among some marginalized communities. Overall, the increasing availability and use of cocaine in Europe is leading to increased costs to society, both through its impact on public health and through the crime and violence associated with the cocaine market.
In 2023, for the seventh consecutive year, EU Member States reported a record amount of cocaine seized, amounting to 419 tonnes. Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands remain the countries reporting the largest quantities of the drug, reflecting their importance as entry points for cocaine trafficking into Europe.
There has been an increase in the number of smaller seizures, which may reflect a change in trafficking tactics. In 2024, Spain reported its largest ever seizure of cocaine (13 tonnes) in a single shipment hidden in bananas originating from the port of Guayaquil, Ecuador. In recent years, several other countries also appear to have increased their importance as entry points for cocaine into Europe. Among them is Portugal, which has been seizing increasing quantities since 2021, reporting almost 22 tonnes of cocaine seized in 2023. Germany seized 43 tonnes of cocaine in 2023, with large consignments weighing a total of 25 tonnes being intercepted in the port of Hamburg that year, double the amount reported in 2022, the AECN said.
As measures to intercept trafficking have been stepped up at the main known entry points for the drug, cocaine traffickers are also targeting smaller ports in other EU member states and neighbouring countries that may be more vulnerable to drug trafficking activities. For example, in one of Sweden's largest drug seizures to date, around 1.4 tonnes of cocaine were seized in April 2024 in the small port of Nynäshamn, south of Stockholm.
It is well known that the illicit processing of cocaine products takes place in several EU Member States, with numerous cocaine laboratories reported to be discovered each year. Cocaine processing in Europe often involves secondary extraction of cocaine that has been embedded in other materials (e.g. chemically concealed in plastics), which poses challenges for its detection in commercial shipments. For example, between 2023 and 2024, 6 cocaine processing laboratories were discovered in Portugal, leading to the seizure of cocaine paste and cocaine hydrochloride.
Cocaine’s increasingly evident public health impact
For a number of practical and methodological reasons, the health problems associated with cocaine can be difficult to monitor, but there are growing signs that the high availability of this drug is having an increasingly negative impact on public health in Europe. Cocaine is the second most commonly reported illicit drug by first-time drug treatment providers, and is now the most commonly reported substance in acute drug toxicity cases presented to hospital emergency departments. European drug testing agencies, although not nationally representative, reported that cocaine was the second most common substance they tested in the first half of 2024. Available data for 2023 suggest that cocaine was involved in around a quarter of drug overdose deaths.
Cocaine residues in municipal wastewater also increased in more than half of the cities for which data is available for 2024 and 2023, the AEDN noted. Among other things, this suggests that as cocaine becomes more widely available, its geographical and social distribution is also expanding. Cocaine use among more marginalized groups in some countries is particularly worrying. Both smoking and injecting cocaine are associated with greater health problems, and it is therefore worrying that injecting cocaine and crack cocaine use are being reported in an increasing number of countries.
Cocaine use is associated with a number of adverse health effects, which may include agitation, psychosis, tachycardia, hypertension, arrhythmia, chest pain, and stroke. Most of the chronic harms associated with cocaine use are associated with intensive, high-dose or long-term use, which, in addition to dependence, can increase the risk of coronary heart disease, cardiomyopathy and stroke.
According to a demand-based estimate, the European retail market for cocaine was worth €10.5 billion in 2020. This represents around a third of the total illicit drug market, making cocaine the second largest market (after cannabis) and suggests a large increase compared to the previous estimate for 2017, the AECN said.
The data show that cocaine on consumer markets in the EU became on average almost 40% more affordable between 2015 and 2020, based on the price of 1 gram of pure cocaine for buyers in the context of their national standard of living.
Aim of the US military operation in the Caribbean region
Sky Television expresses doubt that the actions of the US military in the area around Venezuela are really dictated by President Trump's declared war on drugs in South America.
There are several reasons to doubt the US government's stated goal of destroying these so-called "narco-terrorist" gangs threatening the US from Venezuela, even after taking the type of equipment the military has at its disposal out of the equation – which is not necessary to effectively cut off drug smuggling.
While the president acknowledges that the synthetic opioid fentanyl causes a huge number of deaths in the US (which it does) and is supplied by drug gangs (which it does), blaming Venezuela for producing fentanyl is simply wrong, "Sky" points out.
Mexican cartels produce fentanyl with precursors supplied mainly from China, and it is from Mexico - America's neighbor - that fentanyl is smuggled directly into the US across its southern border, the television station notes.
Venezuela, which borders Colombia, is largely a transit country to the Caribbean, in the same way that Ecuador, which also borders Colombia, is a transit country to the Pacific.
Neither Venezuela nor Ecuador are significant producers of drugs.
Drugs enter Venezuela by land, mainly from Colombia, and then leave the country mainly from ports on the country's northern coast - and these are the departure points of the boats that the US government is attacking and destroying.
It is no secret that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is an ardent supporter of the Venezuelan opposition and has been pushing for the overthrow of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for years, the television notes.
And although the US government continues to insist that the military's actions are simply part of a broader anti-drug operation, it is difficult to imagine that removing a "hostile" leader in a country with huge oil reserves in order to attract "friendly" an opposition leader with whom they can do business is not part of their equation, notes "Sky".
The extent to which drug trafficking threatens Europe is evident from an anonymous letter from an Antwerp judge, who points out that Belgium is becoming a narco-state and the rule of law is under threat, "Politico" reported.
"What is happening today in our region and beyond is no longer a classic criminal problem. We are faced with an organized threat that undermines our institutions," the investigating judge wrote in the letter published on the official website of the Belgian judiciary.
"Vast mafia-like structures have established themselves, becoming a parallel power that challenges not only the police but also the judiciary. The consequences are serious: are we evolving into a narco-state? No way, you think. Exaggeration? According to our drug commissioner, this evolution is already underway. I and my colleagues share this concern," the judge added.
The huge port of Antwerp serves as a gateway for illegal drugs entering Belgium - and Europe. And Brussels, the country's capital, has been hit by a spate of drug-related shootings, with more than 60 incidents since the beginning of the year, 20 of which have occurred this summer alone.