Sun, sand and synthetics: the sharp rise of synthetic cannabinoids in the Indian Ocean islands.

On 17 September 2020, the Anti Drug and Smuggling Unit (ADSU) working at the St Louis airport in Mauritius found 50 grams of synthetic cannabinoids in a parcel arriving from France. After replacing them with dummy drugs, the ADSU allowed the intended recipient – a Mauritian national – to collect the parcel, resulting in his arrest.

This small seizure is an illustrative example of a much larger drugs trend sweeping the island. Synthetic cannabinoids – widely known as chimique – were first reported in Mauritius around 2013, and the market has grown rapidly. According to the ENACT Organised Crime Index, the synthetic-drugs market in Mauritius is currently ranked joint-highest (in terms of structure, control and influence) in the Southern African Development Community, and in the top 10 continentally.¹

The trafficking and consumption of synthetic cannabinoids have similarly expanded in Mayotte, a French department in the Comoros archipelago in the Indian Ocean, while consumption is also accelerating across the Comoros, fuelled by drugs imported from Mayotte by sea. The prevalence of the synthetic cannabinoids has triggered public-health concerns in the region, and it is feared that the profits from the trade are being invested in other illicit activities.

A quickly accelerating market

Although modest in size, the 17 September seizure highlights several characteristics of the expanding and evolving synthetic-cannabinoid trade. Though imported from France, the sender’s details on the parcel indicated that it had originated from Nanjing, China, where cannabinoid compounds are predominantly manufactured. (Testing by the Mauritius Forensic Science Laboratory has found that the overwhelming majority of synthetic cannabinoids seized on the island originate from China.) The indirect route reflects a recent trend identified by law-enforcement agencies in Mauritius, who believe that increased scrutiny of parcels arriving from China has prompted Chinese suppliers to route parcels carrying synthetics via Europe (including via the United Kingdom, France and Germany).

Synthetic cannabinoid compounds are imported into Mauritius and Mayotte predominantly by post, typically in powder form, and are then combined with plant material, often using a range of easily available solvents.² Sometimes a number of compounds are mixed together to form a composite drug.

Small quantities of the compounds can be converted into significant volumes of the street drug, leading to vast profits. Individuals arrested for chimique trafficking in Mayotte report that €10 of compounds can be converted into street chimique with a value in Mayotte of between €200 and €400 (US$235–US$465).³ One prominent dealer imprisoned in 2016 claimed to have earned between €10 000 and €20 000 per day (US$11 715–US$23 430) from the chimique trade.⁴

The data shown in figure 4 has been standardized to compare 0.1g, the standard size of a ‘dose’ of synthetic cannabinoids as it is sold in the Indian Ocean island states. Heroin is also typically sold in doses of around 0.1g.

In interviews, people who use drugs (PWUD) in Mauritius and Mayotte reported that one reason that synthetic cannabinoids had suddenly increased in popularity is because they are relatively affordable across social strata, compared to drugs such as heroin where higher prices were seen as more prohibitive. In Mauritius, PWUD also reported exceptionally high cannabis prices (which were a considerable outlier compared to other Indian Ocean islands), placing cannabinoids as a cheaper alternative to both heroin and cannabis, which are the two other most frequently consumed drugs on Mauritius.

Figure 5 Comparison of retail price paid for synthetic cannabinoids and other illicit drug types in the Indian Ocean island states, from survey data conducted with people who use drugs, 2020.

Note: The graph shows a comparison of retail prices for synthetic cannabinoids in Mauritius, Mayotte and the Comoros, and provides additional data on heroin and cannabis for comparison in Mauritius and Comoros. This data is drawn from ongoing GI-TOC research into the dynamics of illegal drug markets in the Indian Ocean islands, which includes a pricing survey of PWUD reporting typical retail drug prices. For more information on the methodologies used in these pricing surveys, see Jason Eligh, A shallow flood: The diffusion of heroin in eastern and southern Africa, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, May 2020, https://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/A-Shallow-Flood-The-Diffusion-of-Heroin-in-Eastern-and-Southern-Africa-GITOC.pdf.

By contrast in the Comoros, PWUD emphasized in interviews that synthetic cannabinoids are expensive for the average Comorian user in comparison to, for example, cannabis. The Comoros islands, unlike Mauritius, are not home to an established heroin market, meaning synthetic cannabinoids – in contrast to Mayotte and Mauritius – are the predominant higher-value drug available on the market.

Synthetic cannabinoid compounds are available on both the surface and dark web from suppliers in China. This obviates the need for established relationships with suppliers overseas, typically required for the supply chains of other drugs, such as heroin. This, combined with low drug-production costs and high profit margins, means that the entry barriers for would-be traffickers are low – a fact that has enabled the market’s rapid expansion. Stakeholders across Mauritius, Mayotte and the Comoros have all emphasized the speed at which chimique trafficking and consumption rates have increased on the islands.

Low manufacturing costs also keep chimique street prices down across Mauritius and Mayotte, making it affordable across socio-economic strata. In Mauritius, the number of individuals arrested for use or possession of synthetics doubled annually from 2015 to 2018.⁵ Many have turned to chimique as an alternative to cannabis, which has become increasingly expensive over the past five years, with prices now comparable to those for heroin.⁶ In Mayotte, consumption is concentrated among impoverished and disenfranchised youth, many of whom have migrated to Mayotte irregularly, predominantly from the Comoros.

Figure 6 Evolution of drug arrest rates in Mauritius, 2012–June 2020.

Source: ADSU, Mauritius

The synthetic cannabinoid market has all the characteristics of a ‘bridge’ criminal market: new entrants can exploit the low costs of production and ease of importation to quickly amass capital, allowing them to enter other, more capital-intensive markets – often with disruptive results. Before chimique arrived in Mauritius, the island was already home to a large and well-established heroin market, but the new market in chimique brought in new actors to the drugs market, challenging the established orthodoxy and causing market fragmentation. In Mayotte, which had an extremely small pre-existing drugs market, chimique triggered an explosion of new entrants and a diffusion of entry points.

Figure 7 Admissions into public-health institutions in Mauritius relating to drug consumption, January 2015 to November 2018.

National Drug Control Master Plan 2019–2023, Republic of Mauritius.

Public-health impact

Chimique has triggered a spike in related admissions into public-health institutions, particularly among young people, in both Mauritius and Mayotte. In Mauritius, 44% of drug-related inpatient treatment cases reported to public health institutions in 2017 concerned suspected use of ‘new psychoactive substances’ (believed to be almost entirely synthetic cannabinoids), dwarfing the 17% related to opioids and opiates.⁷ Youssouf Ali, an addiction specialist working in Mayotte, noted that by 2015 – a mere three years after the drug emerged on the island – there was a ‘chimique epidemic’ on the island, with the number of youth aged between 14 and 19 accessing specialist addiction services doubling between 2014 and 2015.⁸

In both countries, chimique-induced overdoses and admissions spiked when the drug first hit the market.⁹ Similar surges have been observed with the introduction of new psychotropic substances in Europe, such as ketamine and GHB.¹⁰ Drug users and health professionals attribute this to the inexperience of the local ‘chemists,’ who created excessively high concentrations of the drugs.¹¹

Once chemists achieved the right concentrations, overdoses decreased.¹² Data relating to admissions in Mauritian public-health institutions show a fourfold spike in chimique-related admissions between 2015 and 2016, and then a levelling off until 2018 (the most recently published figures).¹³ In Mayotte, admissions have decreased significantly since the drug came on to the market.¹⁴ However, although admissions may have decreased in frequency, the chimique market continues to grow across both islands.

Responses

The chimique market presents a complex challenge for law enforcement. Synthetic compounds can be more difficult for law-enforcement and customs agencies to identify: testing is often expensive and, in the case of more rare composites, complex. The fact that some compounds have not yet been made illegal in drugs legislation further complicates interdiction efforts. Furthermore, the low barriers to entry to the market mean that interdictions and arrests may have little impact, as new chimique suppliers can quickly emerge. These challenges compound the complexity of responding to a fast-accelerating market, which is already taking a significant toll on Mayotte, Mauritius and the Comoros.

Notes