Africa’s evolving drug economy is becoming increasingly regionalised, with analysts identifying West Africa as a major gateway for cocaine entering the continent from Latin America, while South Africa is emerging as a leading hotspot for methamphetamine abuse.

The pattern, experts say, reflects deeper structural, economic and governance challenges shaping drug trafficking and consumption across the continent.

The findings were examined during the latest edition of the Toyin Falola Interviews, chaired by Toyin Falola. The panel brought together Prof. Moruf Lanrewaju Adelekan, psychiatrist and former technical adviser at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime; retired Assistant Comptroller-General of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Ibiba Odili; Founder of the Global Initiative on Substance Abuse (GISA), Dr Martin Agwogie; and the General Secretary of the Young African Leaders Initiative in Abuja, Abdulmalik Yahya.

The session, streamed to over five million participants across more than 15 countries, focused on “The Use of Drugs in Africa,” exploring how trafficking routes were increasingly overlapping with domestic consumption patterns.

Providing historical and geopolitical context, Falola traced how major narcotics enter and circulate within Africa.

“West Africa is regarded as the hub from which cocaine comes from Latin America to Gambia and some other countries,” he said, emphasising the sub-region’s strategic position in transatlantic cocaine flows.

Falola linked this development to broader debates about governance and state capacity, observing that “people have formulated the concept of the narco-state as the description of Venezuela,” with analysts suggesting that in some contexts, drug trafficking networks may intersect with political and institutional power.

Beyond cocaine trafficking, Falola pointed to the widespread use of heroin and tramadol across Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania, Niger, Ghana and Nigeria.

“Some are arguing that the use of heroin and tramadol is linked to unemployment,” he said, framing drug use as both a public health challenge and a socio-economic crisis driven by structural deprivation.

While West Africa was highlighted as a cocaine gateway, Southern Africa, particularly South Africa, was described as a focal point for methamphetamine abuse. “The abuse of methamphetamine is a major issue in South Africa,” Falola said. “Some have linked this to violent crime and mental health crisis.”

Panellists stressed that Africa’s role in the global drug economy was no longer limited to transit routes. Domestic consumption, they noted, was expanding rapidly.

Panellists agreed that identifying West Africa as a cocaine gateway and South Africa as a methamphetamine hotspot points to deeper systemic challenges, including unemployment, weak border controls, political instability.