West Africa Drug Markets: Synthetics, Cocaine & Future Trends

New criminal actors and a fragmented market

Synthetic drugs do not need significant start-up capital or international connections. Actors can purchase precursors – or retail-ready drugs – online. And the profits are extremely high. This has lowered barriers to entry and enabled a wave of new criminal actors to enter the trade, transforming the criminal market into a far more fragmented and dispersed one.

These developments are multiplying harms. Since 2024, the impacts have become so severe in several West African countries that two – Liberia and Sierra Leone – have declared states of emergency, an unprecedented response previously reserved for deadly epidemics and pandemics. Overdoses, chronic health conditions, severe mental health conditions and community fragmentation are escalating. These consequences are concentrated among youth, posing a severe risk to future development in some countries.

Global supply chains

For years, the drug known as kush was framed as a challenge experienced by Sierra Leone and neighbouring states alone. However, chemical testing and thorough mapping of supply chains revealed a very different picture. Kush is known to be composed of two psychoactive ingredients: synthetic cannabinoids and nitazenes. These potent synthetic compounds, manufactured outside West Africa and imported through international shipping and trade routes, pose significant challenges in many regions worldwide.

West Africa’s synthetic drug markets are shaped by imports from two main regions: Asia, particularly China and India, and Europe. While some networks in West Africa have connections to individuals in Asia and Europe who handle exports, others merely purchase what they need online. Business-to-business and classified adverts websites in West Africa are being flooded with adverts for powerful synthetic drugs and their precursors, largely from suppliers that appear to be based in Hong Kong and mainland China.

Once purchased, imports use containerized shipping routes and postal courier services, which carry growing volumes of licit goods and are very difficult to monitor. As only a very small amount can create enormous volumes, postal courier services are emerging as the favoured trafficking modality for many synthetic drugs. Very few countries have screening systems capable of monitoring postal courier imports that pose these risks.

The diversity of substances being synthesized, the inability of surveillance systems to effectively identify them, and the challenge of interdicting and mitigating their harms significantly impairs health and security services.

Cocaine: profits, power and governance risks

West Africa is facing a surge in the cocaine trade, reflecting a global expansion in the cocaine market. As volumes have increased, so have profits. Although many of the illicit financial flows generated by West Africa’s cocaine trade leave the region, a substantial proportion stays: some is paid to regional intermediaries and invested in real estate across the region, supporting construction booms in key urban hubs; and some is paid to individuals in West Africa to purchase protection.

Corruption from the cocaine trade has reached new heights in many regions of the world. In Europe, there have been unprecedented convictions of senior public officials due to ties to the cocaine trade. West Africa is no exception – investigations have repeatedly identified corruption at several levels. The impact on governance is immense.

Also key are regional intermediaries – in charge of logistics, with connections on the ground. These often operate at scale and many are extremely resilient, with major players active for over a decade.

Finally, completing the triangle of actors underpinning the region’s cocaine trade are foreign criminal actors. Some of the world’s most sophisticated criminal networks are engaged in cocaine trafficking and are thought to be operating in West Africa. This underscores the importance of intelligence-sharing and cooperation between West Africa and Europe.