How drug trafficking undermines West Africa

Drug trafficking, violence, and politics in Northern Mali

Drug trafficking in northern Mali is fueling unparalleled regional violence and instability. In Mali, smuggling narcotics is not only a way armed groups gain funds, but also a source of conflict in itself. According to the International Crisis Group...

Drug trafficking in the MENA

The Middle East and North Africa is a major source, transit point, and consumer of illicit drugs. Despite having some of the harshest penalties for drug-related crimes, the region both influences and is negatively impacted by illicit substance abuse...

A podcast detailing the drug markets of East and Southern Africa

The African continent plays a critical role in the global illicit drug market. Often forgotten when discussing drug trafficking, organized criminal networks in Africa have established relationships with other criminal organizations around the world....

A map of global drug trafficking

The worldwide illegal drug trade continues to flourish. Accounting for almost 1% of the world’s financial revenue, the cocaine trade alone boasts an annual turnover of an estimated $85 billion. This infographic, from Around the World: An Atlas for...

An eye-opening interactive journey into the global drug trade

POPPY Interactive reveals how drug money destabilizes entire countries, fuels global conflicts, and allows a worldwide illegal economy to grow. Navigating the site involves diving into three major routes—the Northern Route, the Balkan Route, and...

The US war on drugs, explained

The United States has been fighting a global war on drugs for decades. By making drugs more expensive and less available, the US has sought to reduce drug use and inhibit the international drug trade. However, increasing prison populations,...

Why Belgium is now the cocaine capital of Europe

Belgium has become Europe's cocaine-trafficking capital. Recently, Belgian ports have seen record seizures of cocaine. In 2020, the port of Antwerp accounted for 40% of all cocaine seizures in the EU. And local authorities are struggling with the...

How the Myanmar coup fueled a rise in illegal drugs

According to the UN, Myanmar remains the world’s second-largest producer of heroin. Inside Myanmar, almost all the drugs come from one place: Shan state in the Golden Triangle region, south of China, where Myanmar meets Thailand and Laos. The...

Organized crime, including money laundering, drains $1.96T from the global economy annually

Overall, financial crime drains $3T from the global economy, with organized crime making up nearly $2T of that total. Drug trafficking is the second-largest drain on the global economy.

Watch the craziest ways cartels traffic drugs

The war on drugs has forced cartels to be increasingly creative when it comes to smuggling drugs. As police develop methods to catch smugglers, drug traffickers come up with new ways to get their products from producer to seller to buyer. This cycle...

An interactive investigation into drugs and migration in San Francisco

This interactive article investigates the connection between the boom in US migration from Honduras and drug dealing in San Francisco. A high concentration of Hondurans are fleeing Siria Valley, where poverty and national murder rates run high...

A video showing how drug dealing really works

What motivates people to sell drugs? The "News on Drugs" series asks how people get drawn into the drug trade, unpacking the different goals and aims involved in dealing drugs. While there is a lot of focus on cartels, traffickers, and gangs...

An overview of drugs, crime, and cartels in Mexico

In 2006, the Mexican government launched a war on the drug cartels. The cartels and the drug trade fuel rampant corruption and violence in Mexico, contributing to tens of thousands of homicides in the country each year. Mexican drug cartels are also...

From prescriptions to street drugs: Opioids trajectory across America

Exclusive data obtained by The Washington Post from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows how individual counties moved through three waves of the opioid crisis, each wave paving the way for the next. Between 2011 and 2017, the drug responsible for the majority of overdose deaths shifted from prescription pills to heroin to fentanyl. Together, oxycodone, hydrocodone, heroin, and fentanyl have been major drivers in declining life expectancy in the US.

The Gold Road: how the medieval empires of West Africa traded across the Sahara

Throughout the Middle Ages, the West African empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai moved valuables across the Sahara and as far north as France using the Gold Road. This route enabled the trade of gold, ceramics, manuscripts, ivory, religion, and...

A podcast uncovering drug killings in the Philippines

This podcast investigates how many people have been killed in the Philippines since its War on Drugs began. In 2016, Rodrigo Duterte became the President of the Philippines, framing drugs as an existential threat and the root of all crime, saying...

Why is cocaine worth so much?

The global cocaine trade is worth an estimated $100B a year. But, where does that money go, who is spending it, and who is making it? Vice follows the money to understand why the cocaine business functions the way it does. From illicitly growing...

How America's cocaine habit fueled its migrant crisis

The United States has been facing a migration crisis along its southern border. Thousands of people have been fleeing their homes in Central America, traveling north through Mexico, and claiming asylum in the USA. Much of this crisis can be traced...

See how Ebola tore through Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in 2014-16.

Post-WWII decolonization in Africa led to Cold War proxy conflicts

As newly independent African nations emerged after World War II, the US and USSR vied for influence—backing opposing sides in civil wars and revolutions. Conflicts in Angola, Ethiopia and Mozambique became proxy fronts in the Cold War.

See the increase in financial crimes globally on a map

The Global Organized Crime Index tracks annual shifts in organized crime, ranging from drug and human trafficking to financial crimes. The map shows crime levels for each country, as well as a profile of the country's annual shifts.

See the evolution of Ebola vaccine and treatment development.

Cocainenomics

How did Pablo Escobar rise up out of the Medellin barrios to become the CEO of a $4 billion business? This immersive look at the global drug trade spawned by the notorious drug lord, who at his peak controlled 80% of the cocaine supply in the US. This deep dive includes visualizations showing how logistics of drug smuggling evolved over the years and traces the economic impact of the industry.

The negative effects of cannabis use

After decades of criminalization, cannabis is a legalized drug in an increasing number of countries around the world. This allows for accurate, robust research on the drug's effects on humans . While weed isn't as harmful as alcohol, regular usage has its negative effects. As strains of the drug become stronger, so does its consequences. Watch this video for a lucid look at the effects of cannabis on its users.

Step inside Colombia’s most powerful drug trafficking group

The AGC is Colombia’s most powerful drug trafficking organization. Founded by a paramilitary leader who dismissed the Colombian peace process, the AGC stands for the Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. Self-described as “an army fighting...

The rise and fall of a petrostate

Venezuela’s descent into economic and political chaos in recent years is a cautionary tale of the dangerous influence that resource wealth can have on developing countries.

Cultural norms about how to handle the bodies of loved ones have hampered Ebola responses in West Africa.

Why Haiti is in crisis

Haiti’s crisis is decades in the making. Burdened by colonial debt, political instability, and economic collapse, the country faces worsening conditions. Gangs now control much of Port-au-Prince, hunger has reached near-famine levels, and violence continues to escalate. Here’s how Haiti got here—and what’s happening now.

The World Bank, IMF, and WTO all face calls for structural reform

Researchers argue that all three major institutions face legitimacy and effectiveness challenges, including outdated governance structures, unequal voting power, and difficulty adapting to a more multipolar world.

Critics argue that the World Bank, IMF, and WTO were designed to serve Western interests

Some analysts from developing nations argue that the Bretton Woods institutions were designed to reinforce Western economic dominance rather than to promote fair development for poorer countries. Supporters respond that these institutions have improved living standards worldwide.

Visualize the global supply chain of medicine, which may begin with basic research in the US, but outsource intermediate steps.

Addictive drugs can cause dopamine levels to become ten times higher than normal.

Drug-resistant infections worldwide have increased by about 65% since 2000

Since 1990, antibiotic resistance has claimed at least one million lives annually and is projected to account for 39 million deaths between now and 2050 if current trends continue. The expanded use of antibiotics, particularly in agriculture, combined with a slowing pipeline of new drugs has led to the crisis.

The DEA enforces federal drug laws under the Department of Justice

Established in 1973, the Drug Enforcement Administration directs federal efforts to fight illegal drug trafficking, oversee controlled substances, and dismantle large narcotics networks both within the United States and internationally.

The three waves of the opioid crisis: overprescription, heroin, and fentanyl

The US opioid crisis has unfurled in three distinct waves, each spiraling into an epidemic that's killed millions. The first crested in the 1990s with the overprescription of opioids for pain relief. The second manifested as heroin overdoses in the 2010s. The third began in 2013 with the rise of deaths related to tramadol and fentanyl.

How armed groups became embedded in Haitian politics

This six-minute video explores the relationship between Haitian politics and armed gangs. As recently as June 2023, Haiti did not have a single elected official left in office; The 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse and the...

A 49-year-old American died at an ibogaine clinic in Mexico, underscoring its risks

The man had sought out the drug to help him overcome his substance abuse disorder. Though anecdotal reports indicate potential promise, there's been no large-scale clinical trials on ibogaine's safety and efficacy. The plant is derived from a root bark named iboga and has been used for centuries by indigenous communities in Gabon, but first entered scientific consciousness in 1901 after its alkaloid was isolated from Iboga.

Mapping where the drug captagon is seized worldwide

In the 1960s, Captagon was patented in Germany as a stimulant similar to amphetamines. It was prescribed for a time to address narcolepsy, ADHD, and other conditions. As its addictiveness and psychosis-inducing quality became more apparent, the drug has been banned in many countries. A robust illicit manufacturing of the drug endures in the Middle East, especially in Syria and Lebanon. Track locations where the drug has been seized on this updated map.

A podcast about Honduras' narco-Presidente

The former President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, was once a US ally in the war on drugs, but he now stands accused of overseeing a narco-state. Hernandez served as Honduran president for eight years, once considered one of the United...

Opioid prescription rates by states and counties

The origins of the US' ongoing opioid crisis are typically traced to the more than 1 billion prescription pain pills that flooded medicine cabinets between 2005 and 2019. This prescription opioid epidemic resulted in more than 210,000 fatal overdoses and set the stage for the ongoing crisis fueled by heroin and fentanyl.

European colonization contributed to coffee's spread

European colonization created channels for large-scale coffee exports with workforces based in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Trade routes throughout the Middle East and the rest of the world carried the drink to new shores and changed the agricultural and economic landscapes of the countries in the Bean Belt.

The 2026 Ebola outbreak is hampered by a lack of vaccine against the relevant species of the virus, heightening the need for rapid tests to aid in disease control.

Anti-money laundering laws forcing banks to report data have become important foreign policy tools

Since the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970, which required banks to report transactions exceeding $10K and keep records on customers, anti-money laundering laws have become an important proxy for American foreign policy initiatives. Increased regulation via financial institutions helps curb drug and human trafficking, as well as destabilize the financial infrastructure for terrorist organizations.

An interactive documentary exploring violence in the Central African Republic

This photographic and audio documentary explores a decade of violence in the Central African Republic. In March 2013, rebel groups in the north of the country united to form Seleka, which went on to take power of CAR’s capital. Waves of violence...

Fast, cheap, and deadly: How fentanyl replaced heroin and hooked America

This interactive article details how fentanyl has largely replaced heroin in the drug trade, with fatal results. Fentanyl was first developed in 1959 as an anesthetic for pain relief, but the drug took hold in the US black market in 2014 and has since exploded in the intervening decade.

Relationships between countries have become more peaceful since the rules-based order was established

Our World in Data monitors bilateral relationships on a spectrum from open rivalry to "positive peace"—deep cooperation and mutual protection. In 1945, no countries had highly cooperative security relationships. Today, nearly a fifth do.

What is Captagon, the addictive drug mass-produced in Syria?

Diplomatic discussions among Arab countries have recently featured Captagon – the addictive, amphetamine-type stimulant mass-produced in Syria and smuggled to the Gulf states. Relatively unknown outside of the Middle East, Captagon was once the...

Critical mineral production may lift impoverished regions out of poverty

Mineral wealth can provide public revenue and economic livelihoods to those in mining regions. However, poor management and lack of oversight can cause human rights abuses, environmental degradation, and significant greenhouse gas emissions.

The world's most (and least) corrupt countries

The annual index measuring every country's relative levels of corruption. In 2022, Denmark earned the top spot for transparency, with Sudan, Syria, and Somalia identified as having the highest levels of corruption in the public sector. The rankings...

The world rapidly decolonized after World War II, with roughly a hundred new countries emerging between 1945 and 1989.

Decolonization isn't complete, as nearly 2 million people were living in UN-designated non-self-governing territories as of 2023.