A United Nations report confirmed that drugs have become a health problem in West and Central Africa.
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9.7% of the population aged 15-64 use cannabis
The abuse of painkillers and cannabis in West and Central Africa is above global averages, while cocaine smuggling through the region funds militants in the Sahel region, the United Nations said in a report on Monday.
“The growing turmoil in West Africa, a corridor of drugs smuggled from South America to Europe, has enabled drug production and smuggling, and generated revenue for armed groups,” the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said.
In a report, the office indicated that “drugs have become a public health problem in West and Central Africa, where 9.7% of the population aged 15-64 years used cannabis in 2020, compared to 3.8% globally.”
The report added: “Analgesics, especially tramadol, were misused by 2.4% of the same population sample, compared to 1.2% at the global level.” Substance abuse is “a problem in the under-35 age group of men”.
“The slow recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, the deepening humanitarian crisis in the Sahel and the impact of the war in Ukraine are factors that could exacerbate drug use and smuggling if governments do not heed the warning signals,” the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said.
“Although 90% of cocaine is confiscated by sea, large quantities of it have also been intercepted in Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali, since 2021,” he added.
And the office added, “The border areas in the three countries are a hotspot for the activity of militants, some of whom are linked to Al-Qaeda and ISIS, which have achieved momentum and expansion in their territories during the past decade.”