Q3 - How is the cocaine market changing in response to competitive threats?

Question 1

What are the changes that are affecting the cocaine market?
- List 3 examples.

Answer 1

• Growing purity levels of cocaine to respond to competition.
• Increased Competition from synthetic drugs such as Pink Cocaine (Daly 2022).
• Covid-19 making it more difficult and more expensive to obtain the chemicals and fuel to make and distribute the cocaine. Covid-19 also reducing demand and therefore Coca leaf farmers reducing prices (by up to 70%) to try and stimulate demand.

Question 2

Where did Pink Cocaine originate from and when and what is it?

Answer 2

Streets of Columbia in 2010.

Died with food colouring to make it stand out.

Most of the time it contains MDMA and Ketamine but also includes other drugs.

Question 3

How did the significant growth of Cocaine first start?

Answer 3

Became the popular “rich man’s party drug” in the US in the late 1970s and peaked during the 80s. Cocaine would be smuggled from Latin America to N.America.

Question 4

What is the Global Cocaine market like? (Quote)

Answer 4

Columbian drug cartels were the first to understand that “it’s not the world of cocaine that must orbit around the markets, but the markets that must rotate around cocaine.

Question 5

How much is the Cocaine market estimated to be worth?

Answer 5

Between $100bn to $140bn.

• 2nd to Cannabis ($180bn to $280bn).