A naive approach?
In the process, some terminology is conveniently reversed. The realists who point out that after 75 years of trying, the current form of drug control, with its interceptions and busting of trafficking networks, has failed miserably, and that things must be done differently, for example by legally regulating drug markets, are dismissed as naive. The truly naive, on the other hand, who stubbornly insist despite all evidence to the contrary that organized drug trafficking can be tackled, see themselves as the realists.
But the figures prove them wrong: In 2023, with over 175,000 kilos of cocaine intercepted, there will be a joint Dutch/Belgian record: an amount more than 2.5 times higher than five years ago, the Dutch daily NRC recently reported. "The global supply of cocaine is at record levels,” the UN Office on Drugs and Crime recently concluded. "Almost 2,000 tons was produced in 2020, continuing a dramatic uptick in manufacture that began in 2014, when the total was less than half of today’s levels."