The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) warns in its 2021 annual report that organized drug trafficking deprives the global economy of many millions of dollars every year, which developing countries in particular lack provide new opportunities for purchasing banned substances. Sometimes drug use is almost glorified there.
Cannabis, prescription painkillers and other banned substances are primarily available for purchase on many of these internet platforms. Of course, young people are particularly at risk, as they use social media above average and are in the age group with particularly high drug consumption. Governments should take a more active role in setting rules for social media, the Narcotics Control Council recommends. But the private sector must also regulate its platforms and stop promoting the non-medical use of drugs.
The INCB report also notes that almost all use of opioid analgesics for pain relief is concentrated in the developed countries of Europe and North America. The availability in other regions, on the other hand, is often insufficient.
The negative effects of illicit financial flows from drug smuggling range from corruption and bribery to increases in organized crime, violence, poverty and social inequality. As they divert money from the economy, they cause social and political instability. Drug gangs “rely on illicit financial flows to expand and sustain their criminal activities,” said INCB President Jagjit Pavadia. Governments are therefore called upon to combat all levels of drug smuggling, from manufacture to sale to money laundering. Cooperation must be used here, “since illegal financial flows know no borders or nationalities”.
Developing countries are particularly affected. According to the report, the countries of Africa are losing an estimated 88.6 billion dollars, or 3.7 percent of the gross domestic product of the entire continent. This corresponds almost to the sum of the annual inflows from development aid and foreign direct investments.
In general, the drug business must be turned off as far as possible in order to have sufficient funds available to combat the health, social and economic consequences of the corona pandemic. New technologies such as digital currencies, mobile payment systems and e-wallet services (“electronic purse, ed.) fuel illegal money transfers because they often work anonymously. Organized crime has long since jumped on this bandwagon.
Furthermore, the national regulatory framework for precursor substances for drug production – keyword “designer drugs” – urgently needs to be improved. Flaws in control would still make it possible to purchase certain chemical substances on the legal market undetected.