Global Cocaine Production Reaches Record High Amid Pandemic Retreat.

South American drug cartels have increased their production and smuggling of cocaine to record levels since the retreat of the Covid-19 pandemic. The production of coca, the drug's base ingredient, has spiked 35% in 2020-21, surpassing pre-pandemic levels, according to a report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Despite record cocaine seizures of nearly 2,000 tons in 2021, anti-narcotics efforts have only slowed down the growth of cocaine smuggling as it continues to meet the rapacious global demand for the drug. Cartels are also devising new routes to avoid the watchful eye of anti-narcotics agents and are looking to expand into nascent but rapidly growing markets such as Asia and Africa.