The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has taken its toll on the global economy, the health sector at large, and our general way of life. The virus has now infected over 4.71 million people worldwide, killed 315,000 and the recovery cases stand at 1.73 million people. More than half of the global population is living under mobility restrictions, international border crossings have been barred, and economic activities have declined drastically, as many countries have opted for the closure of nonessential businesses as a measure of safeguarding the health of their citizens.
Drug trafficking relies heavily on the supply chains of legal trade to camouflage its activities and on individuals who distribute drugs to consumers. The measures implemented by Governments across the globe to counter the COVID19 pandemic have inevitably affected all aspects of the illegal drug markets, from the production and trafficking of drugs to their consumption. According to the UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), the overall impact on bulk supply is reportedly more heterogeneous, both across drugs and across countries. Increased controls resulting from the implementation of measures to fight the spread of COVID-19 have had double-edged consequences on large-scale drug supplies.
The consequences of all these measures to counter the spread of COVID-19 lies on three key elements of the drug markets, namely: drug production, drug trafficking and drug consumption. All three steps can affect drug markets at the global, regional and local levels. Also, the sale of drugs at the source of production could also be affected. When bulk buyers cannot reach remote locations where drugs are cultivated or produced because of mobility restrictions, the overall supply will be affected. Close monitoring of the supply chain and patterns of drug consumption as well as their resultant consequences is important in order to assess how and where the illicit drugs are sourced, and also to reduce the distribution curve of such illicit drugs.
Sproxil has developed a solution called the Sproxil Track and Trace solution with robust track and trace technology plus reverse logistics solution to secure, monitor and help business owners make rapid decisions across global supply chains. The benefits of using this solution are:
- Upgrade of your supply chain security with end-to-end visibility in real time
- Knowing where goods are stuck and being able to rapidly investigate to save time and money
- Conducting surprise supply chain audits anywhere in the world and recovering misplaced goods
Additionally, close monitoring is required to bridge identified gaps essential in understanding of the dynamics of the pharmaceutical drug markets, especially in underdeveloped continents like Africa, where information on drug trafficking and drug consumption remains scarce. Countries on all continents have reported that the COVID-19 measures have had an impact on the availability of drugs at the retail level, as well as on access to treatment and other complimentary health services.
On the long-run, the economic consequences of the COVID-19 measures are likely to have a lasting impact on drug use and the patterns of consumption. However, it is expected that cartel groups (Illicit groups) will adapt new drug trafficking strategies to overcome the measures implemented to counter the spread of COVID-19 by changing their modes of transportation and trafficking routes to less risky (but still open) routes, or to exploit weaknesses in border controls, adopt the use of confidential internet site for the sale of counterfeit drugs or using postal services for actual drug shipments, which is why traceability solutions and brand protection solutions will still be essential to monitor supply chains effectively and also empower consumers to validate products at the point of purchase before consumption
