By Lucia Bird Ruiz Benitez de Lugo, Mouhamadou Kane, Jason Eligh and Lyes Tagziria

Across Africa, the GI-TOC has documented the proliferation of synthetic drugs, the resulting transformation of drugs markets and the escalation of drug-related harm. The nature of synthetic drug markets – with their low barriers to entry and flexible supply chains – makes them attractive to criminal actors and difficult to respond to. The response in Africa is further hampered by a dearth of evidence regarding the scope and scale of the synthetic drug market. This report explores how synthetic drug markets respond to programming seeking to disrupt them. Tramadol is used as a lens through which to consider existing response frameworks to synthetic drugs in the ECOWAS region and more broadly.

ENACT Africa, 2024.

By Anna Sergi

Abstract In large commercial seaports policing and security efforts to counter the drug trade, especially cocaine, do not appear to be effective beyond a mere displacement effect. In the port of Piraeus, Greece, (perceived) rising quantities of cocaine have led to calls for further securitisation of the port to curb illicit trafficking. This article will present the current trends of countering and disrupting cocaine at the port of Piraeus and question how these efforts, together with the growth of the port, are affecting the overall territory of and around the port. This article will first argue that the (perceived) increase in cocaine trade towards/in the port of Piraeus has activated a ‘utopia of security’ in the policing and security responses at the port. This utopia of security leads to paradoxes when it comes to being effective against organised crime in the port. The article will conclude by discussing the possibility of a different approach, one of displacement of countering efforts rather than of cocaine flows. This different approach can also rebalance the focus of policing and security authorities on the relationship between the port and its territory. 

European Journal of Criminology 1–21 © The Author(s) 2023