Senegal

Senegal is in Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia, Guinea, Mali, and Mauritania. It is a transshipment point for heroin from southwest and southeast Asian and cocaine from South America. Senegal is also a major producer of cannabis. Although no reliable estimates of illicit drug consumption are available, evidence suggests that marijuana consumption is widespread and the use of other drugs such as cocaine and heroin, while limited, are increasing.

As early as 1998, Senegal had comprehensive anti-drug laws. The Drug Law of 1997 dealt with everything from capturing and punishing offenders to rehabilitating users. The country also developed a 1998–2000 Plan of Action for fighting drugs with a budget of $4.39 million. Senegalese laboratory technicians have also received training under the United Nations (UN) Drug Control Program.

In Senegal, cannabis is a drug of the poor, and use extends to children as young as 12. For the elites, cocaine, heroin, and crack are available, but they remain too expensive for the poor. Drug abuse is socially unacceptable, but the country has no treatment centers for addicts. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) with limited assistance from the government are the principal source of drug awareness efforts.

For Senegalese farmers, cannabis can be 20 times more profitable than groundnuts, the country's main crop. Even when Senegalese farmers produce enough marijuana for the local market and a surplus for export, cannabis from Asia continues to flow through Senegal and other West African countries. Transshipment of other drugs is a serious concern and includes psychotropic drugs, heroin, and cocaine from Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil. In 1998 a report noted that Dakar was near to South America and Europe with good airport and seaport facilities and, thus, a natural transshipment point for illegal drugs.

In 2005 drug cartels were moving their bases into West Africa because the region was noted for lax policing and small criminal groups. West Africa provided the central location for smuggling in cooperation with indigenous criminal networks to move [Page 720]heroin, cocaine, and cannabis to Europe and North America. Traffickers moved from other West African states that were undergoing conflict, such as the Ivory Coast in 2002. In response to the flood of Colombian cocaine in 2005, Senegalese police and customs officers cracked down at the container port. The glut was so great that the street price of cocaine in Dakar dropped by half to $16 a gram. A single 2004 seizure took 15 tons of cocaine. Senegal's top anti-narcotics policeman noted that the networks identified in 2004 included Senegalese, Colombians, and Europeans. Dakar's effort began with only 10 anti-drug agents out of a total of 75 nationally. Senegalese authorities noted that one reason for the small force was that the World Bank required the country to reduce spending to decrease poverty and reliance on foreign aid, and cuts affected the police.

In 2007 the cocaine volume had grown so great that it threatened to destabilize West Africa. An estimated 27 percent of European cocaine traveled through West Africa. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime encouraged stiffer penalties, and Senegal passed a measure that doubled penalties, providing 10–20 years at hard labor for trafficking. Before the new law the penalty had been five to 10 years, with few offenders receiving the maximum.

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