I'm being facetious but the problem is all too real.
From Le Monde, March 27:
Cocaine prices at their lowest since 2014
A gram of the drug now costs €58, compared with an average of €65 over the last 10 years. This unprecedented drop is due to the abundance of the product and competition between criminal networks and also reflects the increase in the number of consumers.
Is it the result of a commercial strategy by drug trafficking networks or the start of a long-term trend? For the first time since 2014, the price of a gram of cocaine has dropped in France, according to a confidential memo from the French Anti-narcotics Office, seen by Le Monde. While a gram of the narcotic traded at between €65 and €66 for more than 10 years – with a peak at €70 in 2018 – the price fell in 2024 by more than 10% to an average of €58, an unprecedented price.
The abundance of the product partly explains the drop, as the global supply of cocaine seems to be continuing its upward trend since the record production levels in 2022. Published in January, the annual report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime showed that that year had seen "the manufacture of more than 2,700 tons [of cocaine], 20% more than the previous year and three times more than in 2013 and 2014."
The growing number of consumers may also contribute to this fall in prices, amid a context of strong competition between market players. On January 15, in its 10th edition of "key figures" relating to "drugs and addictions," the French Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT) considered "the wider diffusion of psychostimulants," including cocaine, to be "one of the major trends of recent years." In 2023, the period studied for this overview, 1.1 million French people had used cocaine at least once.
'No monopoly'
According to researcher Christian Ben Lakhdar, a professor at the Université de Lille and an expert in the narcotics market, the fall in cocaine prices reveals other phenomena, indicative of the state and structure of the market. In his view, this downturn illustrates the continuing high level of "competition between organizations involved in the resale of narcotics" and, consequently, proof of the "absence of a monopoly or cartel."While the diversification of marketing methods, including the rise of delivery, should have automatically led to an increase in price per gram, "as logistics costs increase with the last kilometer," competition between networks seems to be abolishing this constant in the setting of retail prices. In other words, drug resale organizations are cutting back on their profits in the hope of not losing customers – or gaining new ones.
This strategy includes new ways in which cocaine is packaged, no longer in one-gram sachets, but in specially-designed packages for smaller quantities, affordable to all – and highly attractive to the youngest customers. In 2024, the OFDT already observed the evolution of packaging facilitating "the accessibility of cocaine (...) through fractional sales (by the half-gram at €30 or €40 or, for small amounts, [through] smaller bags sold for €15 or €20)."
Standard consumer product
While the average price has fallen, significant disparities remain between regions. In the Nord department (northern France), on the border with Belgium and the Netherlands, where Antwerp and Rotterdam ports are among the main entry points for drugs into Europe, prices fell even more sharply in 2024, with a gram costing €53.20. In Corsica, on the other hand, despite the considerable spread of narcotics over the past 15 years, remoteness, difficulties in transporting the product, the limited size of the local market and several blows dealt by law enforcement to traffickers mean that the island is the most expensive region for cocaine, with a retail price of €61 per gram....
....MUCH MORE
Also at Le Monde, January 2025: "Study says cocaine use in France nearly doubled in 2023".
The supply does seem to be quite ample and ripe for tariffs:
"7 tons of cocaine found buried underneath farm in Spain..."
Is that a lot? That seems like a lot.
Distribution/Logistics: "Flanders, the hub for international cocaine trafficking"
Criminal Entrepreneurship: "How Drug Cartels Operate Like Silicon Valley Startups" (N.B. not exactly like Silicon Valley but close)
Logistics: "Colombian caught in Spain with cocaine under toupee"
Kids, don't do drugs. They make you do things like this.
And then the cops take pictures.
Berlusconi Blames Stock Market Volatility On Cocaine (and a look at neurotransmitters)
"Cocaine Will Survive Global Warming"
Blowhounds everywhere rejoice."Balkan Operation Nets Pink Panther Boss, Cocaine Kingpin"
Unwanted Side Effect: Cocaine Vaccine Leads Addicts to Take 10 Times More Cocaine
So yes, a real problem, with demand increasing rapidly and supply increasiing even faster.
