With the financially poor state of West Africa as a whole, it is easy to see why many criminal groups were willing to supply this expanding market. .
The next step for these criminal groups was to expand their supply of drugs to the places that demanded it, and anchor themselves as a key intermediate between the supply of drugs and the demand. In the following sections I will talk about the extent of each drug in more detail. As far as the history of the drug trade in West Africa goes, its early onset, without detection by authorities, has given the region a strong foundation of connections and trade routes that is evident in recent years, and is possibly nearing the tipping point for many West African countries. With the already present political instability and weak economies of West Africa, the region may be facing a grave future. .
Cocaine.
Cocaine is a high valued drug all over the world. However, due to the fact that the coca leaf only grows in certain areas of the world, the drug cartels of Columbia, Peru, and Bolivia in South America account for 100 percent of world cocaine production2. This highly sought after product is estimated to sell for $2,700-4,000 per kilo in production zones, and can reach prices upwards of $60,000 per kilo in Europe3. With these cash returns, cocaine producers are willing to do whatever it takes to get their supply to where it is most demanded. However, with this said, South American producers frequently change their tactics and adapt to the route with least resistance. In the case of cocaine, this is the primary cause for the increasing involvement of West Africa in the international cocaine trade. .
Since the mid-1980s, cocaine use has declined in the United States by 50 percent4. In the face of declining demand in the US, cartels from South America shifted their supply to the region of most demand, which was Western Europe. From the mid-1990s, cocaine markets in several European countries, such as the UK, Spain, Italy, and France began to grow.