Press Release

Alarming diversification of local drug markets in Africa poses a growing public health crisis

26 June 2024

The alarming diversification of local drug markets in Africa poses a growing public health crisis and serious challenges to law enforcement according to the World Drug Report 2024 launched by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) today. The regional launch of the World Drug Report 2024 is happening in Accra, Ghana, as part of the celebrations for the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

The local drug markets in Africa are rapidly diversifying, shifting from a predominance of domestically sourced cannabis to a multitude of transiting drugs such as cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and pharmaceutical opioids. This diversification is exacerbating existing health challenges, particularly as the availability of drug treatment services are limited in West Africa. 

Use of cannabis is particularly high in West and Central Africa, with prevalence of use in 2022 of nearly 10 per cent (31 million people). In comparison, over the same period, the global prevalence of cannabis use was of around 4%. The region has experienced the fastest global growth in cannabis use. 

Africa is increasingly a key transit hub for drugs, with substances such as cocaine from Latin America, and heroin and methamphetamine from South-West Asia passing through on their way to Europe and other destinations. Over the past thirty years, criminal networks have expanded their operations in the region.

Christoph Capelle

Christoph Capelle-Sghiouar

UNODC
Officer-in-Charge a.i. of UNODC Ghana
christoph.capelle@un.org  +233(0)501323264
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Christoph Capelle is a Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer with a focus on penal and prison reform at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). In this capacity he works on technical assistance projects, including legislative reforms and prison staff training in line with international standards and norms.

Before joining UNODC, Christoph worked for two years as a lawyer in the field of migration law in a law firm in Hamburg, Germany. In the course of previous work assignments, he also worked for the German Institute for Human Rights and served as a law clerk at the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, and for a Defence Team at the Khmer-Rouge Tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

He holds an LL.M. in International Crime and Justice from UNICRI, a Licence en Droit from the University Paris X Nanterre, a Bachelor and Master of Laws from the University of Hamburg and passed both state exams in law and thereby is qualified to practice as lawyer, judge and prosecutor in Germany.

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