{"id":14435,"date":"2023-07-06T17:49:59","date_gmt":"2023-07-06T14:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/?p=14435"},"modified":"2023-07-06T17:50:01","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T14:50:01","slug":"europe-is-steadily-turning-into-a-global-center-for-drug-trafficking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/?p=14435","title":{"rendered":"Europe is steadily turning into a Global center for Drug Trafficking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In black colors, Europol describes the situation that prevails in Europe in terms of drugs, since the Old Continent has turned into a global trafficking center, sidelining the USA and posing risks to the Republic itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result is an increase in violence and corruption in trafficking hotspots such as the port of Antwerp in Belgium, as criminal gangs increasingly seek to infiltrate logistics companies and even the judicial system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The port of Hamburg has become a key destination for traders. The use of fentanyl – a powerful opioid – is increasing in Estonia, Sweden, Finland and Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cocaine has created a new reality in the city of Antwerp. A large influx of cash brings corruption, violence and distortion to the city’s economy. the influx of said money has distorted the city’s economy and burdened society. Police, customs officials and a hospital worker have been arrested for giving information to cocaine-trafficking networks through encrypted apps. The notorious traffickers rent out supercars for hundreds of euros a day and recruit young people whom they lure with the prospect of fast money and a flashy lifestyle. Legitimate companies find it difficult to compete with criminal front businesses that can sustain heavy losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Europe is becoming a cocaine hub<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After cannabis, cocaine is the most widely consumed drug in Europe, with millions of users and sales of around \u20ac10.5 billion in 2020, according to a joint report (“European Drug Report 2023: Trends and Developments<\/a>“) by the EU law enforcement agency Europol and the European Drug Monitoring Center and Addiction (EMCDDA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European market is growing, boosted by greater production in Latin America and also by the expansion of crude drug processing capacity in Europe itself. It could increase even more with the development of new types of smokeable cocaine products, the report said, warning of increased health risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cocaine imported into Europe from South America is increasingly re-exported to other parts of the world, mainly in the Middle East and Asia, making Europe “a key transit point for drugs originating elsewhere”, the report added. .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European market for methamphetamine is also growing, but remains much smaller than that for cocaine, according to the report, which notes that its exact size is difficult to estimate. The synthetic stimulant has traditionally been produced mainly in the Czech Republic and consumed in Eastern Europe, but new figures show that demand is increasing in Western Europe, particularly in Belgium, which has become a major producer of the drug.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In black colors, Europol describes the situation that prevails in Europe in terms of drugs, since the Old Continent has turned into a global…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[818,390],"tags":[3872,4457,3870,4458,25,470,136,2216],"class_list":["post-14435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-politics","tag-drug-traffickers","tag-drug-trafficking","tag-drugs","tag-emcdda","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-europol","tag-trafficking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14435"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14437,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14435\/revisions\/14437"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}