7 billion neighbors

Drug trafficking in Europe: at the heart of an underground economy

213 tons of cocaine, 613 tons of cannabis herbs and resins, these are the quantities of the main drugs used in Europe seized by the authorities in 2019 © Shutterstock / Animaflora PicsStock

By: Charlie Dupiot Follow |

Amelie Beaucour

1 min

213 tonnes of cocaine, 613 tonnes of cannabis herbs and resins, these are the quantities of the main drugs used in Europe seized by the authorities in 2019, according to the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).

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These figures are increasing and which, in reality, represent only a small part of the narcotic substances circulating in Europe.

The market is indeed lucrative, estimated at several billion euros.

Record seizures or settling of scores on the front pages of newspapers, series or films on narco-traffickers, drugs have become commonplace.

The multiplication of deal points (4,000 in France) and the uberisation of traffic in any case facilitates its consumption.

How to explain that the drug is found in such large quantities in Europe?

What are the routes taken and hubs on the European continent?

What are the consequences for the populations who live, on a daily basis, surrounded by trafficking?  

With :

David Weinberger,

  sociologist, specialist in the analysis of the illicit supply of drugs 

Simon Piel

, journalist at Le Monde 

Musical programming:

► 

– Kelsy Karter 

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– Snoh ​​Aalegra 

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• Society

• Drug

• Economy