Security experts, government officials, and regional institutions have issued a stark warning that West Africa is facing one of its most dangerous and fast-evolving public health and security crises as synthetic drugs sweep through the region with unprecedented speed and scale.
The concerns were raised at the opening of a two-day International Conference and Regional High-Level Dialogue on Drug Markets in West Africa in Accra.
It was on the theme “Mapping the Future of Drug Markets in West Africa: Synthetics, Cocaine, Criminal Money and Strategic Responses.”
The international conference, jointly hosted by the Government of Ghana, the Government of the Netherlands, and the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC), brought together leading experts from Africa, Europe, Latin America, and global agencies to examine the escalating crisis and forge coordinated responses.
The warnings come against the backdrop of a rapidly expanding synthetic drug economy across West Africa, where potent man-made substances, ranging from synthetic opioids and cannabinoids to nitazenes and methamphetamine, are driving rising overdoses, severe mental health conditions, and community destabilisation.
The crisis has become so grave that two countries have declared states of emergency since 2024, a measure previously reserved for major epidemics.
The concerns reflect mounting evidence that synthetic drug markets are reshaping the illicit drug economy in West Africa.
Low barriers to entry, the anonymity of digital platforms, and the minimal capital required for production have enabled new criminal actors to enter the trade, creating a decentralised marketplace that is difficult to track or dismantle.
These markets are expanding faster than the capacity of regional law enforcement, health systems, and forensic laboratories to respond, leaving dangerous blind spots in surveillance and treatment.
At the same time, synthetic drugs are increasingly linked to other criminal activities, with profits fueling corruption, illicit financial flows, and organised crime.
Mr Mark Shaw, the Director of GI-TOC, opening the conference on Thursday, said the evolution of drug markets in West Africa had far outpaced national and regional response capacities, leaving dangerous gaps in understanding, surveillance, and intervention.
“The challenges here in West Africa are significant. And the fast-paced evolution of drug markets in the region is outpacing our responses,” he said.
Mr Shaw noted that despite data collection efforts by bodies such as the West African Epidemiological Network for Drug Use (WENDU) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), “there are many gaps in our evidence base, both for synthetic drugs and for the cocaine market.”
He warned that these gaps had “real consequences,” pointing to the deadly spread of Kush, which he said may have caused “hundreds, perhaps thousands” of deaths across the region before authorities understood its composition as a powerful synthetic opioid known as E-disease.
Mr Shaw said the cocaine trade, fuelled by increased production in the Andean region and transit through West Africa, continued to cause severe harm both on the continent and in Europe.
He stressed that the complexity of the crisis required international collaboration, commending Ghana and the Netherlands for convening the dialogue.
Brigadier General Maxwell Mantey, Director-General of Ghana’s Narcotics Control Commission, said global drug markets were undergoing a profound transformation, with synthetic substances now more prevalent than at any point in history.
He cited findings of the 2025 World Drug Report, which highlighted rising production and global distribution of psychoactive substances, including fentanyl analogues entering African markets.
He warned that drug trafficking networks in West Africa were rapidly adapting to new opportunities through digital payments, e-commerce, social media, encrypted communication, and the exploitation of weak border systems.
“This is the new face of trafficking; low volume, high potency, and often invisible until it reaches the consumer,” he said.
Brigadier General Mantey noted that Ghana had scaled up intelligence operations, enhanced forensic and screening capacities, strengthened collaboration with courier services, and expanded rehabilitation and prevention programmes.
He urged participants to ensure that the conference produced “actionable steps in intelligence, financial investigations, and training” to guide collective implementation in the coming years.
Mr Joost Flamand, Deputy Director-General for Political Affairs at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the illicit drug trade was inflicting severe harm on countries worldwide, undermining public health, governance, and security.
He noted that cocaine production and synthetic drug use had reached record levels, stressing that no country could confront the crisis alone.
He said the conference provided “a platform to share the latest insights and information on drug markets,” bringing together diplomats, law enforcement agencies, health experts, and researchers from across continents.
Mr Flamand praised Ghana’s leadership and reaffirmed the Netherlands’ commitment to supporting global and regional anti-narcotics efforts.
Mr Daniel Amankwaah, Principal Programme Officer for Law Enforcement (Drugs) at the ECOWAS Commission, described the crisis as a “complicated, complex, and sophisticated issue” evolving so rapidly that new substances were emerging before authorities could fully understand the preceding ones.
He said this made reliable, up-to-date data indispensable for effective policymaking.
Mr Amankwaah said the ECOWAS Commission had strengthened its analytical systems through the WENDU Reports, which provided credible statistics and identified emerging drug trends, with all member states reporting in 2024.
However, he said more work was needed to broaden the analytical scope, incorporate findings from GI-TOC’s baseline studies, and enhance coordination between national focal points, security agencies, and international partners.
