Netchain analysis is a useful approach to understanding cocaine trafficking in Colombia because cocaine trafficking networks combine features of supply chains and networks, and hence can be characterized as netchains. As cocaine moves across Colombia, it can be transformed from cocaine paste to cocaine base to cocaine hydrochloride, giving cocaine trafficking a supply chain like structure. Cocaine paste, base, and hydrochloride can also move across the country without being transformed into downstream products, giving cocaine trafficking a network like structure.
The present study uses data on the prices of cocaine paste, base, and hydrochloride across administrative regions of Colombia over time to extract the netchain structure of cocaine trafficking. The data were obtained from the Colombian Narcotic Police. We analyze this netchain structure using methods adapted from network analysis, which is used for homogeneous product flows, for netchain analysis, which allows for the product to be transformed as it moves across space. This netchain analysis enables us to identify structural features of the cocaine netchain in Colombia, providing insights into its properties and possible policies and strategies to disrupt the netchain. A by-product of this exercise is the creation of netchain-analytic statistics that are analogous to network-analytic statistics.