Freetown, Sept. 11, 2024 (Lusa) - Guinea-Bissau is the only country in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) "where drugs not only cause a health crisis, but also potentially compromise the viability of the state," the organisation stresses in a study released on Wednesday.
"Drug trafficking is identified as one of the main threats to Guinea-Bissau's security, as it is associated with organised criminal groups, corruption and political instability," reads the WENDU 2023 report, drawn up by the West African Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (WENDU).
The study was released by the Department of Humanitarian and Social Affairs of ECOWAS - the regional organisation to which Guinea-Bissau and Cabo Verde belong - at an event in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.
Sintiki Tarfa Ugbe, director of Humanitarian and Social Affairs at ECOWAS, referred to Saturday's seizure in Bissau of 2.6 tonnes of cocaine on a plane from Venezuela to underline the "great challenge facing West Africa".
The WENDU 2023 report - the fourth since 2019, supported by the European Union and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) - analyses the data submitted by just 11 countries: Benin, Cabo Verde, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo and Mauritania.
The three countries that left ECOWAS in 2023 - Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger - did not submit any data, as did Nigeria and Guinea-Conakri, which, like the first three, was the scene of a coup d'état in September 2021.
The study reports a total of around 83,734 kilograms of drugs and more than 31,000 drug tablets/capsules seized in 2023, which is not a direct indicator of the magnitude of drug trafficking, but rather "reflects the capacity and priority of drug law enforcement in the member states".
Among the types of drugs seized, cannabis and related substances, in a "continuing trend", accounted for the largest quantities, with around 75,072 kilograms, 89.65% of the total drugs seized in the period under review.
This record represents a marked decrease in the amount of cannabis seized in 2023 compared to 2022, when 899,000 kilograms were seized, but this drop is explained by the non-inclusion of data from Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Guinea-Conakri.
Cannabis seizures in Cabo Verde in 2023 exceeded nine tonnes - 9,279 kilograms (kgs) - and in Guinea-Bissau they were no more than 15 kilograms, the lowest recorded of the 11 countries studied, led by Senegal, where almost 16 tonnes (15,905 kgs) were seized.
As for the opioids seized in the region in 2023, the largest quantities were pharmaceutical opioids (around 224 kgs, with more than 11,000 tablets/capsules), followed by heroin. The main pharmaceutical opioid seized was tramadol (over 95% of seizures).
The highest seizures of these drugs were in the Ivory Coast, Senegal and Sierra Leone, "indicative of the fact that the West African region continues to be a centre for the diversion of licit pharmaceutical products for illicit use", stresses the study.
In 2023, 87.37 kilograms of heroin were seized, most of it in Liberia, representing around 62% of the record. Neither Cabo Verde nor Guinea-Bissau have records of heroin seizures in the year under review.
A total of 7,841.58 kilograms of cocaine and crack were seized in 2023, with significant disparities between countries, with Senegal (7,503.93 kilograms seized) alone accounting for around 95% of the total.
Despite the unavailability of data from Nigeria, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Guinea-Conakri, an increase of approximately 6.53% in cocaine seizures was recorded in 2023, compared to 7,361.2 kilograms in 2022, a year that included seizures from all then ECOWAS member states except Guinea-Conakri.
Guinea-Bissau seized 36 kilograms of cocaine, the 4th highest record of the 11 countries portrayed, and Cabo Verde seized 34.59 kilograms of the drug (5th highest).
The study highlights the "growing involvement" of minors in drug use, which "calls for the urgent introduction of comprehensive drug prevention programmes at all levels of education".
The WENDU 2023 report also recommends the creation of rehabilitation centres focused on women, given the increased prevalence of drug addiction among women and their "limited access to treatment opportunities".
In this field, national policies cannot continue to "let family and friends remain primarily responsible for the burden of drug addiction and the cost of drug addictions among individuals", which "require a comprehensive and multi-sectoral response", argues Sintiki Tarfa Ugbe, quoted in the study.
"Governments, school authorities, public workers' and employers' organisations and the private sector all have roles and responsibilities in the prevention and treatment of drug addictions," he adds.
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