Colombian Cocaine Trade

Colombian Cocaine Trade

Cocaine is produced from the Coca plants usually found in the mountain climates of Colombia. The first cocaine alkaloid was not achieved until 1855. The cocaine alkaloid was first isolated by a German Chemist Friedrick Gaedcke. Cocaine was first used in the 1880's as an anesthetic in eye, nose, and throat surgeries because of its capability to provide anesthesia as well as to constrict blood vessels and limit bleeding. Its therapeutic applications are obsolete in this day and age because of the technological advances to produce safer drugs . Cocaine is the most devastating and potent stimulant of the natural realm. In this paper I will be discussing the history of cocaine, the impact in the world, and lastly the War on Drugs.

Dating back thousands of years the South American Indigenous people have chewed the coca leaf. The leaf contains important nutrients and can be life saving to a person who hasn't eaten for days. When the Spaniards conquered South America they discovered that the claims of the leaf being nutritious were true and started taxing 10% of the value of the crop . The taxes actually became the main source of support for the Roman Catholic Church in the region.

In 1999, Colombia remained the world's leading producer of cocaine. Three quarters of the world's annual yield of cocaine is produced there. In the year 2000, Columbia still remains the world's leading producer of the drug .

The coca cultivation that goes on in the Andean jungle is damaging the health of the environment in the region. The main threats to the environment are deforestation caused by clearing the fields for cultivation, soil erosion caused by several factors, and chemical pollution from insecticides and fertilizers. The process of mixing coca and poppy into cocaine and heroine has devastating effects on the environment as well. These environmental issues are difficult to

address due to coca being a traditional crop and trade item, the influence and wealth of the drug traffickers opposing restrictions, and the issue of national sovereignty. Most realize the social impact of the drug trade worldwide, but few realize the environmental impact.

The natives who used to live on eating the fish from the rivers no longer are able to find any edible fish.

Pollution is one of the biggest factors in the environmental issues involved with the coca cultivation. Some of the pesticides used by the farmers travel through the soil into the ground effecting the water, and eventually making its way into the rivers and streams. The pesticides are not only poisonous to the insects and larger animals, but also to the people who live on the land. Another item that plays a big role in the pollution is the fertilizer used by the farmers, and that also enters the water systems. Not to mention it also destroys all of the other sensitive vegetation in the area. Once the fertilizer enters the water it makes the algae grow at increased rates while killing the organisms that feed on it. The final result is the algae overwhelming the other aquatic plants and life, while restricting water flow.

At the rate the forests are being depleted over one third of Colombia's Total forest will be gone in about five years. Much of the land is abandoned after only two or three seasons of coca cultivating. Most of the wild life is gone also due to the lack of clean waters and plant life. The deforestation caused by coca and poppy producers and non-existent soil conservation techniques they practice have led several experts to theorize that the region could end up in a situation similar to that of Ethiopia or Somalia within 50 years, i.e. a fast growing population that is larger than the food production can support due to poor agricultural soils or techniques.

The trafficking of cocaine in Colombia also plays a big role in the lives of the indigenous people who live in the Andeans where the Coca is harvested. The guerillas that imperialize on the indigenous peoples land ultimately bring disputes, health problems and social disorder to the pueblos in the Andeans. They are also faced with legal problems because the government charges them with the responsibility when crops are found or discovered. Aerial spraying of fumigants damage the indigenous people's crops even when not forced to be involved with the growth of coca. Many small communities have been forced to leave their home and flee to urban areas or in severe cases flee to Ecuador. The U.S. claims that they only target large scale coca growth but there are publications that many 1 to 3 hectare farms have been hit. These communities represent the diversity in Andeans and spraying the fumigants on their lands will cause the demise of the indigenous people there.

Cocaine shipments from South America transported through Mexico or Central America are generally moved overland or by air to staging sites in northern Mexico. The cocaine is then broken down into smaller loads for smuggling across the U.S., Mexico border. The primary cocaine points for entering in the United States are in Arizona, southern California, southern Florida, and Texas. Usually land vehicles are driven across the Southwest Border. Colombian traffickers have also started using a new concealment method where they add chemical compounds to cocaine hydrochloride to produce "black cocaine." The cocaine in this substance is not detected by standard chemical tests or drug-sniffing canines. Cocaine traffickers from Colombia have also established a labyrinth of smuggling routes throughout the Caribbean, the Bahamas Island chain, and South Florida.

Methods of trafficking include airdrops of 500-700 kilograms in the Bahamas Islands or off the coast of Puerto Rico, mid ocean boat-to-boat transfers of 500-2,000 kilograms, and the commercial shipment of multi tons of cocaine through the port of Miami and to the Islands in the Caribbean. These vessels are typically 150 to 250 foot coastal freighters that carry an average cocaine load of approximately 2.5 metric tons.

The illegal drug market is quite lucrative. The estimated revenue