Colombia continues to break records for cocaine production, report says

The South American nation produced a record estimated 1,379 tonnes of cocaine last year – up 31% on 2016
The Guardian (UK)
Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Colombia is desperate to shed its reputation as a nation dogged by the drug trade, but new figures from the United Nations show that it continues to break records for producing cocaine. In 2017, around 171,000 hectares (423,000 acres) of the South American nation’s land was used to grow coca, the plant whose leaf is the base ingredient of cocaine – up 25,000 hectares (17%) on the year before, according to a report published on Wednesday by the United Nation’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The latest figures are likely to alarm Washington, which has long provided aid to Colombia in its war on drugs.