One in five of the European Union's cocaine users lives in Spain

One in five of the European Union's cocaine users lives in Spain, and 3 percent of its own people are regular users, the U.S. State Department said Friday.
Spain also is Europe's largest consumer of designer drugs and hashish, while remaining a major transshipment site for cocaine imported from South and Central
America, the department said in its annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report.
«The Spanish government ranks drug trafficking as one of its most important law enforcement concerns and continues to maintain excellent relations with U.S. counterparts,» the report released Friday said.
Spain is «the principal entry, transshipment, and consumption zone for the large quantities of South American cocaine and Moroccan cannabis destined for European consumer markets,» the report said. It also is «a major source and transit location for drug proceeds returning to South and Central America.
While Colombia remains apparently Spain's largest supplier of cocaine «information available suggests an increase in shipments of illicit cocaine from Bolivia. Bolivian cocaine is transshipped through Venezuela and Argentina by vessel or plane to the Iberian Peninsula.
In the face of such facts, the report indicated U.S. narcotics authorities are pleased with enforcement efforts by the Spanish national police, the Guardia Civil gendarmerie, customs services and autonomous regional police forces.
They «maintained an intense operational tempo during 2007, and as of early November were on track to seize near-record amounts of cocaine,» it said, and were active against distributors of synthetic drugs such as LSD and Ecstasy.
The report said Spanish authorities recorded two large hashish seizures in August, when the Civil Guard seized 5,549 kilograms and arrested nine people in Gerona and Seville. In October, authorities intercepted 4,600 kilograms and arrested 19 people in southwestern Spain.
The product was believed to have originated in North Africa and was transported to Spain by a large vessel, which is the usual route for hashish, the report said. It said most comes from Morocco or Algeria.

Posted in: U.S. State Department