A UN report, released on Monday, said that opioid and cannabis abuse are above global averages in West and Central Africa, while cocaine trafficking through the region is financing militant violence in the Sahel. Growing instability in West Africa, a transit route for illegal drugs on their way from South America to Europe, has facilitated drug production and trafficking, generating revenue for armed groups, said the UN Office of Drugs and Crime. The Agency said slow recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, the Sahel’s spiralling humanitarian crisis, and the impact of the war in Ukraine could exacerbate drug taking and trafficking.
