A wastewater analysis has indicated that in Europe, cocaine from South America is now being consumed in smaller towns, as well as major urban areas.

Photo: A dismantled cocaine laboratory in Tolima, Colombia. (Credit: Colombian Air Force)

The report, published on March 20 by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), is the institution’s latest annual overview of drug residues used to estimate cocaine consumption across participant cities in Europe. This year, the report analyzed results from approximately 90 cities and towns, though several major cities, including London, Madrid, and Berlin, did not participate.

It found that the Belgian city of Antwerp, a vital port for the arrival of drugs from Latin America to Europe, remains the continent’s cocaine consumption capital, while eastern European states — particularly the Czech Republic and Slovakia — continue to dominate in methamphetamine consumption, though that is changing slowly.

The report also looked beyond the European Union for the first time to compare residues at a global level, including cities in the United States and Brazil in its analysis.

Researchers tested the cities’ sewage systems for indications of how much cocaine the population is consuming, which they estimate in milligrams per 1,000 inhabitants per day (mg/1000p/day).

Wastewater studies measure only drugs that have been consumed, not those that were dumped, João Matias, a scientific analyst at the EMCDDA and one of the authors of the study, told InSight Crime.

“Once inside our bodies, the drug is metabolized. Once excreted to the sewage system, researchers can take samples before the water is treated. We look for the metabolites produced after the use of a specific substance,” said Matias.

Here, InSight Crime analyzes the report’s findings on the increasing prevalence of cocaine and methamphetamine outside of major cities in Europe, as well as new data from non-EU cities.

Disparities Between Urban and Non-Urban Consumption Dissolve

This year, researchers noted that differences in residue readings between urban and non-urban settings in Europe no longer exist, suggesting that traffickers have flooded the continent with cocaine, and it is now available almost everywhere.

“Contrary to previous years, in most countries with multiple study locations, no marked differences were found when comparing large cities to smaller locations,” according to the report.

Record coca cultivation and cocaine production in nations on the supply side of the cocaine trade have enabled this spread.

Authorities in Colombia, the world’s largest cocaine producer, seized 739.5 tons of the drug in 2023, an increase from the 659 tons seized in 2022. Peru saw a 4.4% drop in seizures of cocaine but 53% more cocaine base, while Bolivian seizures jumped by 62%.

The Colombian government’s announcement in March that it would reduce eradication efforts to 10,000 hectares, half of 2023’s target, is likely to see coca cultivation increase still further this year.

Even with these record seizures in Latin America, seizures in Europe also continued to climb. Europe’s traditional entry points — Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain — all increased their seizures. Sweden and Russia, countries not known for receiving cocaine, saw large single seizures of 699 kilograms and 460 kilograms respectively, while Norway made its largest-ever cocaine seizure of 800 kilograms.

The report also found that cocaine residues have doubled since 2011 among the seven cities that have participated in the study each year.

From 2011, the daily value of cocaine residue across Antwerp in Belgium, Zagreb in Croatia, Milan in Italy, Eindhoven and Utrecht in the Netherlands, and Castellón and Santiago in Spain, rose from 341 mg/1,000p/day to 747 mg/1,000p/day in 2023. Last year, the rate in these cities was slightly higher, at 800 mg/1,000p/day.

The increase in consumption is “definitely related to the increased availability [in Europe] and the increased production of cocaine in South America,” Matias said.

Methamphetamine’s Slow Spread

The report also found that methamphetamine use has spread into new areas of the continent, while seizures of the drug both in Latin America and Europe have made the news.

“Methamphetamine use, generally low and historically concentrated in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, now appears to be present also in Belgium, Cyprus, the east of Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Turkey and several northern European countries,” said the report. However, overall, the study found that the amount of methamphetamine consumed remained stable.

“One of the highlights of last year’s report was that we were seeing an increase in methamphetamine use over most of Europe,” said Matias. “This year we found use in many countries, but we didn’t see the same increase in use we saw in the previous years.”

Methamphetamine, a synthetic drug, has traditionally been supplied to the European market by local actors, including in the consumption heartlands of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

However, in 2019, multiple arrests of Mexican or other Latin American methamphetamine cooks in the Netherlands and Belgium suggested that the “Mexican method” — the production of methamphetamine used in Mexico which produces a high-quality drug — was being learned by European producers. Since 2019, there have been no other arrests, implying that a transfer of knowledge has taken place.

The vast majority of methamphetamine production in Mexico usually takes place in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, and is then trafficked to the United States. Significant amounts of methamphetamine have arrived to European shores recently, though the majority was intended for onward travel.

In February 2024, Ireland made its largest-ever methamphetamine seizure of 546 kilograms, worth some $35 million. The drugs had come from Mexico and were on their way to Australia, police said. The shipment was traced back to the Sinaloa Cartel.

At the beginning of September, Mexican authorities discovered 20 tons of suspected methamphetamine aboard a ship in Veracruz, on Mexico’s Atlantic coast, according to a press release. The ship was headed for Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Non-EU Cities Rival European Cocaine Habits

For the first time, the EMCDDA report included wastewater results from non-European Union cities. Cities in the United States, Switzerland, and Brazil “show similar levels of use as the cities in Europe with the highest loads,” found the report.

Seattle in the United States recorded a daily mean of 647 mg/1,000p, while Geneva in Switzerland recorded 812mg/1,000p. The northeastern Brazilian city of Recife had a daily mean of 670 mg/1,000p.

These results are around the same as European cities like Utrecht (744), Paris (616), and Barcelona (619), but still far below the big hitters like Antwerp (1,722), the highest of all participant cities by a distance, or Amsterdam (1,210).

While cocaine consumption may be entrenched in many regions of the world, Oceania remains relatively untouched, according to residue findings. The daily mean of 102 mg/1,000p across Australia’s 55 sites suggests a dearth of the drug, and provides plenty of reasons for organized crime groups to continue, and perhaps even increase, their attempts to move cocaine to this untapped market.

This article, written by Peter Appleby, was originally published by InSight Crime, a Medellín-based foundation dedicated to the investigation and analysis of crime and security in Colombia and Latin America.

The Colombian government is offering the free “CoronApp Colombia” for download on Android devices, and toll free information lines (within Colombia): 01-800 095-5590 or for Bogotá: 330 5041. International callers may dial +57 1 330-5041

The 34 year old man from Buga and the 50 year old woman from Medellín presented symptoms and sought health attention, where they were tested positive for the infection. Both patients are said to be in stable condition and epidemiological protocols have been established to contact and test those who may have come into contact with the patients.

Virus arrival coincides with new health minister appointment

The day before the health ministry confirmed the virus in Colombia, President Ivan Duque (above, left) swore in a new health minister after the previous official resigned in December. The new health minister, Dr. Fernando Ruíz Gomez (above, right) is a medical doctor and also holds a masters degree in economics, and one in public health, as well as a doctorate in public health.

Dr. Ruíz was vice minister of public health and social protection in Colombia from 2013 to 2016 during the Santos administration, and also served as regional health director for Bogotá.

Authorities urge that one of the most effective means of prevention is to wash hands thoroughly and frequently.

The young woman arrived without symptoms but after a coed in Mexico showed signs of infection, she went to give samples for analysis which eventually turned up positive for the virus. Though 3 Colombians have been confirmed to be infected in Brazil and Japan, and there have been several suspected cases on Colombian territory that tested negative, this is the first case confirmed as positive. Several other Colombian travelers are being held in quarantine in Bogotá until their status can be confirmed.

Out of 105,828 global cases of Coronavirus, there is only 1 confirmed case in Colombia as of publication. (Infographic courtesy of Colombian Ministry of Health)

Meanwhile air travel, meetings, and street traffic continues as normal throughout Colombia, albeit with a small but noticeable minority of people wearing respiratory masks.

Last Friday, the Colombian Minister of Health and Social Protection Fernando Ruiz Gómez met with regional secretaries of health, EPS (employee health plan providers), IPS (health services providers such as clinics), insurers, and medical associations to establish and coordinate a response plan to Coronavirus, and activate contingency plans developed over the past 8 weeks.

Colombia is now one of 96 countries that have confirmed Coronavirus cases, including China, Romania, Italy, the US, México, Ecuador, Brazil, Chile, Peru & Canada.

Medical experts say that Coronavirus is most frequently propagated from human to human through cough droplets and respiratory tract excretions and may also be transmitted by close human contact or fecal contamination. The virus is believed to have propagated from animals to human, and there have been cases reported of dogs catching the virus from humans.

Opening keynote speaker Nathan Furr, a professor at INSEAD business school, discussed innovation and change in business, the “platform” business model, and how to take advantage of digital disruption. Furr used several cases to demonstrate how both traditional businesses such as utilities and banks can apply some of the same strategies as tech startups to transform business and strengthen relationships with customers.

The afternoon keynote was conducted by Charlene Li, the bestselling author of Open Leadership, co-author of Groundswell and her last book, The Engaged Leader. Li talked about the challenges of aligning customer experience with business strategy, understanding new generation clients and the differences in their behavior, and the role of customer experience in digital transformation.

Workshop throughout the day covered topics such as Medellín’s strategy for the “Fourth Industrial Revolution,” blockchain, civil security, the role of design in technology and business, and artificial intelligence.

WOBI also has a World Business Forum event scheduled for Bogotá June 5-6, a family business forum in Bogotá on October 23, and returns to Medellín for the World Leadership Forum November 26-27.

Photo Credit: Loren Moss

Monje Alvarado’s brother Juan Carlos was killed in 2007 when he was a known paramilitary and spokesman for the Anadiqíes front.  Monje Alvarado makes the second ex-mayor to be extradited to the US, behind former Tenerife, Magdalena mayor Omar “Paco” Vanegas Lora, who trafficked drugs to the US via maritime containers.

Based on DEA reports, Monje Alvarado was linked to the Zetas and Sinaloa Cartels of México