Cannabis herb seizures stabilized at high levels in 2024, with trafficking largely being intra-regional. But some new inter-regional flows, notably from North America, have emerged in recent years.

• Cannabis herb trafficking is global, with seizures suggesting a concentration in Africa and the Americas. Recent spikes in some African countries may reflect an expansion of cannabis cultivation, improvements in law enforcement. It cannot be excluded that they may also be influenced by the reporting of seizure weights of cannabis plants instead of cannabis herb.
• Recent global trends in seizures are shaped by two main factors: declines in North America – linked to legalization in some jurisdictions – and pronounced increases in reported seizures in Africa. Other regions show only modest fluctuations and a slight uptick in 2024.
• Trafficking is predominantly intra-regional (from over 60 per cent of seizures in Asia originating in Asia and up to 95 per cent of seizures in the Americas originating in the Americas between 2020-2024). However, some inter-regional flows mainly reflect flows from North America to East and South-East Asia, Oceania and – more recently – Europe. The rather high levels of THC as well as the legal availability of cannabis herb in several jurisdictions of North America may have played a role in this regard.