Trends Argentina top cocaine consumer in Latin America

[Expat98]

UN report: Argentina top cocaine consumer in Latin America

BUENOS AIRES, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Argentina is the top cocaine consumer in Latin America and ranks second in the American continent after the United Sates, local media said Friday quoting a newly released UN report.

The UN's "World Report on Drugs", based on polls conducted in 2006, said Argentina has registered strong growth in cocaine consumption in recent years. It is also the second-highest consumer of marijuana and Ecstasy pills in Latin America.

About 2.6 percent of Argentines aged between 12 and 65 years (some 640,000 people) in 2006 admitted to have consumed cocaine at least once a year, compared to 1.9 percent in 1996. The figure for the United States was about 3 percent for a similar age group.

The number is higher if users of cocaine-based paste in the Latin American country are taken into consideration.

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