global illicit drug trends 2003 - United Nations Office on Drugs and ...

Global Illicit Drug Trends <strong>2003</strong>
Chapter 1. Trends: Consumption – Coca/ Cocaine
Upward <strong>trends</strong> in consumption were also reported
from France and Luxembourg, from the Nordic
countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden), a number
of southern countries (Portugal, Greece and
Malta) as well as a number of East European
countries (Bulgaria, Serbia & Montenegro, Croatia
as well as Slovakia, Poland and Belarus).
Stable or declining levels of cocaine abuse were
reported from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and
Liechtenstein as well as from the Czech Republic
and Hungary. This almost uniform reporting trend
of several neighbouring countries in the centre of
Europe suggests that supply to this area may not
have been as abundant as in previous years.
Stable or declining <strong>trends</strong> were also reported from
Turkey, the Ukraine and Latvia.
In Africa, only the Republic of South Africa
reported a stable trend for 2001. All other
reporting countries (Benin, Gambia, Ghana and
Togo from western Africa and Namibia and
Zimbabwe from southern Africa) saw a rise. No
East African or North-African country reported on
<strong>trends</strong> of cocaine abuse, possibly reflecting the
fact that cocaine abuse in Africa is only a problem
in the west and south.
For the whole of Asia only 7 countries reported on
cocaine abuse <strong>trends</strong>, reflecting the low
prevalence of cocaine abuse in that region. They
saw mostly stable or declining levels of abuse.
Only India and Saudi Arabia reported an increase.
Relatively large cocaine seizures reported by the
Syrian authorities in 2001 suggest that a local
market could develop in the Near and Middle
East.
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