EU Drug Market: Drivers and facilitators

Globalisation is the process by which entities become globally interconnected through networks of communication, trade and transportation. It has a significant effect on illicit drug markets, as criminal networks exploit globalisation to gain similar benefits to participants in the legal economy. Globalisation facilitates drug supply by providing opportunities for criminal cooperation and integration along the supply chain, thus improving efficiency.

Infrastructure development and innovation in transportation technology continue to have a significant impact on illicit drug markets. While innovation in transportation and logistics technology enables cheaper, faster and more efficient criminal operations, allowing large quantities of illicit drugs to be moved, it can also provide opportunities for interdiction by law enforcement authorities.

• The EU illicit drug market has undergone a fundamental transformation in recent years. This has been driven by globalisation, innovation and technological developments as well as by geopolitical instability, conflicts and environmental changes. The market is now characterised by highly resilient and adaptable criminal networks that continually exploit new opportunities for drug production, trafficking and distribution.
• International criminal networks continue to exploit globalised processes and information technology in particular, improving operational efficiency and finding opportunities to remotely coordinate their activities.
• Cooperation and the use of crime-as-a-service in drug markets have become pivotal for criminal networks seeking to expand and operate on an international level. The exploitation of legal business structures also plays a key role, with criminal actors facilitating access to legal businesses to enable drug production, trafficking and distribution.
• External shocks caused by conflict, instability and economic turmoil have led to a reconfiguration of trafficking routes, potentially impacting on prices, purity and the availability of different products along the supply chain.
• Novel techniques and technologies employed in the production of both plant-based and synthetic drugs are key facilitators for the illicit drugs trade, enabling higher yields and products with increased potency or purity.
• The use of unscheduled chemicals, either to produce the precursors required for synthetic drugs or to synthesise these drugs directly, continues to present a complex regulatory challenge.
• Concealing drugs through ‘chemical masking’ poses new difficulties for law enforcement and customs. It is likely that there will be further innovation in this area by criminal networks.
• Digital technology remains a key driver of innovation in drug markets and at all stages of the drug supply chain. Criminal networks are able to incorporate developments in digital technology in their criminal processes and modi operandi, for coordinating illicit container shipments across the globe, or for communicating via encrypted solutions, for example. The use of artificial intelligence to facilitate illicit drug production or distribution is a threat worthy of serious consideration.
• While recent evidence suggests that the importance of darknet markets has diminished, other platforms appear to be gaining prominence as new spaces for online drug markets. For example, social media and instant communication platforms are exploited for drug trafficking in multiple ways, from communication, advertising and sales, to recruitment of facilitators.
• Drug-trafficking criminal networks use a range of equipment and techniques to facilitate their activities, including weapons and explosives, encrypted communication devices and fraudulent documents. In some cases, criminals collaborate with other networks and individuals that possess such tools or capacities and provide them as a service.