Pubdate: Wed, 18 Jul 2007
Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN)
Copyright: 2007 The Leader-Post Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/regina/leaderpost/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/361
Author: Henrique Almeida, Reuters
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

COCAINE DRUG OF CHOICE IN EUROPE

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -- Saturday night and thrill-seekers from around 
the world crowd the streets of Amsterdam's red-light district ready 
to binge on sex, drugs and alcohol.

"Hey, mister, do you want some cocaine?" a man mutters from a dark 
corner while a blonde prostitute removes her bra in a shop window, to 
lure customers into her room.

It's no accident the dealer was offering cocaine before he moved on 
to other drugs. Cocaine use has almost tripled in Europe over the 
past decade, while U.S. consumption has stabilised, according to U.N. 
figures released in June.

"There is a certain glamour to cocaine in the media which has become 
very appealing to all sectors of European society," said Peter 
Thomas, a spokesman for European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug 
Addiction (EMCDDA) in Lisbon.

Portuguese police say a stronger euro is also attracting cocaine 
smugglers into European cities like Amsterdam, London and Madrid 
where party-goers can easily pay up to 60 euros ($82.78) to get high 
on a few lines of the white powder.

Wholesale, the drug in Europe fetches up to $77,000 per kg, almost 
twice the amount it sells for in the U.S., according to the U.S Drug 
Enforcement Administration.

"Dealers focus their trade in cities with money," Jose Braz, the 
director of the Department of Narcotics in Portugal, which has become 
a significant entry-point for cocaine into Europe, told Reuters. 
"There is more and more dirty money in euros."

"There was a lot of euphoria with love-drugs like ecstasy 10 years 
ago but that is going away now," said an employee of the Magic 
Mushroom Smartshop near Amsterdam's night club scene in 
Rembrandtplein square. He identified himself simply as AR.

"Coke is cold and ego-boosting and allows people to forget about 
their insecurities. I suppose the world is becoming a colder place 
these days," he added.

Europe's demand for cocaine may be growing but the real test for the 
Latin American cartels is breaking into Europe's sophisticated 
external borders and airports.

The solution normally comes in the form of bribes.

According to the United Nations, cartels increasingly rely on corrupt 
officials in poor West African nations like Guinea Bissau, a tiny 
former Portuguese colony, to store the cocaine before it is smuggled 
into Europe's booming market.

"These criminals are entrepreneurs. They see a window of opportunity 
and immediately jump in," said Braz, who worked with Bissau police 
recently to help fight cocaine smuggling.

In April, Guinea Bissau's police was commended by the United Nations 
for seizing over 600 kg of cocaine -- worth more than 30 million 
euros -- but it was later discovered the traffickers had still 
managed to escape with about 2.5 tonnes of the drug.

"It is regrettable that the rest of the consignment was not 
intercepted, but hardly surprising as the police were woefully 
ill-equipped and often do not have enough gasoline to operate their 
vehicles," said Antonio Costa, the Executive Director of the UN's 
Office of Drugs and Crime.

In a statement to authorities in Bissau, Costa urged them to ensure 
that the seized cocaine would not "disappear" like previous drug busts.

The cocaine that eludes authorities is normally split among hundreds 
of smugglers willing to risk hefty jail sentences to enter Europe 
through countries like Portugal and Spain.

Last year, police in both countries, which have strong geographical 
and cultural ties with Africa and historic links with Latin America, 
seized a combined 70 tonnes of cocaine, about the same amount that 
was seized in all of Europe in 2004.

"We are now a key entry point of drugs into Europe," said Braz.

But record drug busts in 2006 and 2007 in Europe have prompted 
cartels to turn to people who are willing to fly to Europe with 
cocaine hidden in bags or inside their bodies for up to 5,000 euros 
- -- a small sum considering the risks involved.

"What we have found is that drug mules have increasingly been used to 
smuggle the drug through airports," said Peter Thomas from the 
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom