Illegal drug manufacturers in Mexico created more new types of narcotics over the past decade than in any other country in the world, according to a new report by the United Nations.
The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime found producers in Mexico were responsible for 30 new types of psychoactive substances, more than any of the other 194 nations from 2007 to 2017.
The Mexican drug market contributed to Latin America overtaking Europe as the world’s top regional producer new illegal drugs.
Of the hundreds of new drugs created over the past decade, 178 new drugs have been produced by Latin American and Caribbean nations, and the rate at which those discoveries are occurring is speeding up, according to the New Psychoactive Substances Early Warning System.
In 2017, the most recent year data was collected, the Latin American market produced 61 new drugs. Mexico was responsible for roughly half of that number.
Just 51 new drugs were reported being created in all of Europe that same year.
The new drugs coming out of Central and South America are largely hallucinogens, vegetable-origin substances, synthetic cannabinoids, synthetic cathinones, and piperazine.
