Nearly 350 000 South Africans used cocaine before Covid-19 in 2020, consuming about 18 800 tonnes. (Photo by Bodo Marks/picture alliance via Getty Images)South Africa’s domestic cocaine market is growing, with East Africa and the rest of southern Africa playing a key role in the transnational flow of the highly lucrative illegal narcotic, according to a report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime.
The report, A Powder Storm: The Cocaine Markets of East and Southern Africa, draws its conclusion from fieldwork across 16 countries in the region.
It was drawn from group discussions with more than 1 000 drug users, personal interviews with more than 1 700 informants, including more than 400 drug couriers and distributors, 70 high level drug importers and 40 law enforcement personnel.
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