The use of synthetic drugs is increasing sharply and may outstrip the use of plant-based drugs.

The information was provided by the executive secretary of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), Zacarias da Costa, during the presentation of an annual report on narcotics, according to "Notícias".

The consumption of "synthetic drugs is increasing very sharply" and could "take the place of some drugs of plant origin", and "there has been a very significant increase in the number of deaths resulting from the consumption of these substances, with a very negative impact on public health", declared Zacarias da Costa, at the presentation this Tuesday via online of the first chapter of the report of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) 2024, for the first time in Portuguese and in partnership with the CPLP.

According to the executive secretary of the CPLP, the synthetic drugs industry is evolving very quickly due to its own characteristics: for example, it doesn't need land for cultivation and the facilities or laboratories can be mobile.

For her part, the JIFE representative at the presentation of the report, Mariângela Simão, added that the increase in the manufacture of synthetic substances is due to reduced operating costs, geographical flexibility, globalization, greater resilience against seizures, new compounds created by changes in the molecular structure of substances, the adoption of new methods, low costs and high profits, as well as the fact that drug shipments are increasingly smaller in size.

According to the study, also quoted by the newspaper, synthetic drugs can be much more potent than those of plant origin and cause hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths every year.

With regard to Africa, "trafficking to markets in the south, east and west has been steadily increasing," explained Mariângela Simão.

According to the report, there is large-scale drug trafficking on the African continent, visible "by the significant seizures of cocaine and other drugs in the Sahel".

Africa has increased its cocaine consumption, "probably a side effect of the continent's use as a transit region for cocaine trafficking to Europe", but the data remains scarce.