Although the United Stated remains the undisputed leading market for the drug, consuming an estimated 330 tons yearly, the increased flow into Europe worries European governments and law-enforcement agencies.

Europol, the European Union's police agency, estimates that 35 percent of Colombia's cocaine production found its way to EU nations, primarily through the Netherlands and Spain. In 1999 EU member nations seized 43 tons of the drug, an increase of 37 percent over the previous year. (Source: The New York Times.)