Addiction to Hard Drugs in West Africa Is on the Rise

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Following a trend among industrialized nations, hard drugs are now making their way into the hands of West African consumers. With European markets saturated, experts believe drug barons are increasingly turning their attention to the region. That has led to an increase in addicts, and the opening of West Africa's first drug rehabilitation center.

The first time Omar took heroin was in France during the 1980s.

As a young Senegalese student in Paris, he was lured to the back alleys of the Rue de Flandres and Gare de Lyon, notorious hotbeds for drugs at the time.

Now in his late fifties, Omar, who did not wish to use his real name, said heroin and cocaine are creeping into Senegal’s drug scene.

“I discovered heroin in the West,” said Omar. “But users in their twenties discovered it here.”

Experts say drug consumption in West and Central Africa is on the rise.

Cannabis is by far the most widespread substance, but hard drugs are becoming more prevalent. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's most recent estimates for West and Central Africa amount to 1.8 million cocaine users in 2016 and around 1 million heroin users in 2015.

Pierre Lapaque, the UNODC’s regional representative, said Senegal is a natural transit point for traffickers smuggling drugs to Europe from Latin America.

"They used to give their accomplices cash," he said, "but now they are paid in produce."

Lapaque believes drug lords are purposely dumping products in the region so that local dealers can charge a price low enough to attract consumers and create a new market.

Research done by this reporter on the streets shows that one gram of pure cocaine can be purchased for as little as $35, compared to $90 in France. A rock of crack costs less than $10.

“Drug users are typically male, aged less than 25 and from a middle- or lower-middle-class background,” said Lapaque. “This profile fits perfectly with Africa’s emerging population.”