BRUSSELS — Europeans spent at least 11.6 billion euros ($12.7 billion) in 2017 on illegal cannabis purchases, confirming marijuana as the largest drugs market in the 28-country European Union, the bloc’s anti-drugs agency said on Tuesday. The global market for illicit drugs was estimated to be worth between $426 and $652 billion, the agency said, warning that its estimates about the EU market were conservative. Illegal sales of herbal cannabis and its resin represented 39% of the EU’s drugs market, up from 38% in 2013, with revenues for criminal organizations dwarfing those in legal markets. Marijuana shops in California, the world’s largest legal market for cannabis, had revenues worth around $2.5 billion last year, industry data show. Cocaine is the second most consumed illegal drug in the EU, with sales generating revenues of at least 9 billion euros in 2017, while the heroin market was worth more than 7 billion euros.

Source: National Post November 26, 2019 12:56 UTC