NCJ Number
197033
Date Published
March 2002
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This document contains an assessment of cocaine movement for the year 2001.
Abstract
The amount of cocaine estimated to depart South America for the United States increased in 2001 despite aggressive efforts to eradicate the Andean coca crop, interdict cocaine shipments, and arrest key traffickers worldwide. Retail prices and purity levels in the United States and Europe suggest that traffickers maintained ample supplies of cocaine to meet world demand. Significant developments in cocaine movement during 2001 included: (1) despite an intensified spray program in Colombia, coca cultivation expanded in new as well as established growing regions; (2) exploiting higher prices in non-U.S. markets and stagnating or decreasing US demand, traffickers apparently increased their deliveries to other markets; (3) although law enforcement elements arrested key leaders of trafficking organizations, associates of the arrested leaders remained active and competitors stood ready to fill any gap; and (4) Colombian traffickers remained the dominant players in the cocaine trade. Figures