A gram of the drug now costs €58, compared with an average of €65 over the last 10 years. This unprecedented drop is due to the abundance of the product and competition between criminal networks and also reflects the increase in the number of consumers.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.03.27-074937/https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2025/03/27/cocaine-prices-at-their-lowest-since-2014_6739558_7.html

Is it the result of a commercial strategy by drug trafficking networks or the start of a long-term trend? For the first time since 2014, the price of a gram of cocaine has dropped in France, according to a confidential memo from the French Anti-narcotics Office, seen by Le Monde. While a gram of the narcotic traded at between €65 and €66 for more than 10 years – with a peak at €70 in 2018 – the price fell in 2024 by more than 10% to an average of €58, an unprecedented price.

The abundance of the product partly explains the drop, as the global supply of cocaine seems to be continuing its upward trend since the record production levels in 2022. Published in January, the annual report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime showed that that year had seen “the manufacture of more than 2,700 tons [of cocaine], 20% more than the previous year and three times more than in 2013 and 2014.”

The growing number of consumers may also contribute to this fall in prices, amid a context of strong competition between market players. On January 15, in its 10th edition of “key figures” relating to “drugs and addictions,” the French Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT) considered “the wider diffusion of psychostimulants,” including cocaine, to be “one of the major trends of recent years.” In 2023, the period studied for this overview, 1.1 million French people had used cocaine at least once.