DRUGS

Global Commission on Drug Policy

"Act urgently: the war on drugs has failed, and policies need to change now."

In addition, the report says, the success achieved by the U.S.-Colombia partnership shifted the center of drug-related organized crime into Mexico and Central America.

"Thus, Mexico's current drug-related bloodbath is, in part, directly attributable to the partial victory in the war on drugs achieved in Colombia in recent years via Plan Colombia." Bagley

Drugs can also cause deforestation.

- Cocaine production is responsible for the deforestation of immense areas of the Amazon forest. - According to a report by the OAS, for each hectare of coca, four hectares of forest are cut down, usually by slash-and-burn method, which contributes for changes in atmospheric gases as well. - Drug trafficking and marketing can also lead to deforestation and other negative environmental impacts, as traffickers destroy thousands of hectares of forest to build land strips where they land and refuel airplanes traveling from production zones to distribution areas. OAS

According to the OAS, because most narcotics are illegal in Latin America and across the world, one of the principal means for drug traffickers to gain markets is by fighting each other violently over territory or by other illegal means such as bribery of public officials. The large profits from the drug business has fed two types of corruption: one of individuals and the other of institutions.

- Corruption of individuals pertain to public or private employees who act as facilitators for drug businesses. - Corruption of institutions include financial organizations, law enforcement, the judiciary, political institutions, etc. Financial institutions are increasingly entangled in money laundering activities "establishing dangerous linkages between legal and illegal spheres. OAS

Recommendations from the Global Commission on Drug Policy:

- Countries that continue to invest mostly in a law enforcement approach (despite the evidence) should focus their repressive actions on violent organized crime and drug traffickers, in order to reduce the harms associated with the illicit drug market. - Promote alternative sentences for small-scale and first-time drug dealers. The majority of people arrested for small-scale drug selling are not gangsters or organized criminals. They are young people who are exploited to do the risky work of street selling, dependent drug users trying to raise money for their own supply, or couriers coerced or intimidated into taking drugs across borders. These people are generally prosecuted under the same legal provisions as the violent and organized criminals who control the market, resulting in the indiscriminate application of severe penalties. This is costly and ineffective, leads to overcrowded prisons and contributes to the prison crisis in the region. Global Commission on Drug Policy

Global Commission on Drug Policy

- Invest more resources in prevention, with a special focus on youth. - Offer a wide and easily accessible range of options for treatment and care for drug dependence.

Reasons why the US encouraged source countries to employ the military in the efforts to end illicit drug production:

- Police forces in Latin America tend to be corrupt and inefficient; - The US argued the military would have larger numbers of officers, better discipline, and higher capabilities; - According to Youngers and Rosin, many specialists also argue that the militarization of drug control was a way to substantiate a continuous U.S. presence in the region and maintain military jobs that were about to run out with the end of the Cold War.

Recommendations from the Global Commission on Drug Policy:

- Replace the criminalization and punishment of people who use drugs with the offer of health and treatment services to those who need them. - Portugal was the first country to decriminalize consumption and possession of all illicit drugs and their experience shows that decriminalization does not lead to significant increase in drug use. Global Commission on Drug Policy

Global Commission on Drug Policy

- The United Nations system must provide leadership in the reform of global drug policy. This means promoting an effective approach based on evidence, supporting countries to develop drug policies that suit their context and meet their needs, and ensuring coherence among various UN agencies, policies and conventions.

WOLA proposed solutions to the Drug and Violence problem in Colombia

1- End Fumigation; 2- Provide alternative livelihoods for coca growers; 3- Involve the population in the solution and in decision making; 4- Don't let extraditions on trafficking charges obstruct peace, justice, and truth; 5- Decriminalize individual drug consumption; 6- Provide evidence-based treatment programs and end compulsory drug detention and rehabilitation centers; - The most effective treatment approaches have been 7- Ensure respect for the rule of law and proportionality in sentencing. - Research shows that harsh drug laws have contributed to the region's prison crisis. Small-scale offenders are locked up for excessively long periods of time while those directly involved in organized crime networks are rarely sanctioned. Human rights-based drug policy demands that the punishment be proportionate to the crime committed. In other words, drug sentencing should distinguish between low, medium, and high-level drug offenses. 8- Create legal, regulated markets for cannabis; 9- Implement policies aimed at reducing violence and corruption - Rather than trying to reduce the size of drug markets, enforcement efforts should seek to shape criminal behavior in ways that discourage violence—for example by sending a clear message that those criminal organizations that engage in the most violence will be the primary target of law enforcement.

When was La Violencia?

1947 - 1953

When was the military coup?

1953 - 1959

When was the power-sharing of the presidency?

1959 - 1974

When did the M-19 disarm and join the electoral process in Colombia?

1990

Violence has come to affect the lives of ordinary citizens as well. People avoid getting out of the house at night, or even during the day for fear of getting caught in the crossfire; elites have become targets of extortion; kidnapping is on the rise, and so is armed robbery.

According to Felbab-Brown, in some areas in Mexico upper-class individuals as well as average Mexicans, are leaving the country for the U.S. looking for better security, despite the recent economic downturn in the U.S. Felbab-Brown

The instruments the U.S. has advocated and implemented in its supply-focus tactic are interdiction and crop eradication.

According to Youngers and Rosin crop eradication is U.S.' preferred method due to its lower monetary costs.

The U.S. Congress approved an appropriation of over a billion dollars for Plan Colombia, of which the bulk of the money would go to Colombia and the rest went to neighboring countries being in some way impacted by the conflicts in Colombia.

According to Youngers and Rosin, seventy-five percent of this share was allocated to the military, even though Pastrana's original Plan Colombia made no mention of military participation. To be fair, the initial U.S. aid package also provided funds for alternative development, aid to displaced peoples, human rights, judicial reform, and rule of law programs. Nevertheless, when more than 70 percent of the money went to the military, it is easy to tell where U.S. priorities lye.

Cocaine production and the environment:

According to a report by the OAS, the production of cocaine uses a number of chemicals. These chemicals often leak into the soil and drain into rivers and streams. Moreover, these chemicals are non-biodegradable, toxic, and also travel quickly and reach long distances by means of a process of successive evaporation and condensation cycles known as the "grasshopper effect."

Drug use reduces social opportunities. It often leads to dependency, which destroys families, hinders social interactions, reduces employability, and considerably deteriorates living conditions. Moreover, drug use is covered in stigma.

According to the OAS, stigma is exacerbated by prohibition. Proscription and stigma get in the way of awareness. Individuals who feel stigmatized are less likely to look for information, and may find themselves constrained from receiving the help they need in a timely manner. Drug use can then be a cause and a consequence of exclusion. Another way stigma leads to exclusion is by society's association of these individuals with crime, violence, and danger and who represents a threat to others. As a result, drug users are excluded from daily life. In some cases, the person may even be excluded from drug dependence treatment programs. This exclusion hinders resilience and social reintegration. OAS

According to Domínguez, during the Bush administration Plan Colombia began to address counterinsurgency more openly and more intensely in addition to its previous drug eradication effort.

After ten years the plan was bearing fruits. The FARC was weakened, many of the country's paramilitary groups were demobilized, and drug-related violence was significantly reduced. Domínguez

According to the OAS, the next most violent stage after transit is production.

Although dealing and retail are generally not as violent as production, competition for markets have been notorious for bringing high levels of criminality to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, parts of Mexico, and some urban areas of Colombia and Jamaica. There is also evidence of involvement of Central American gangs in retail. OAS

Cocaine is produced exclusively in the Western Hemisphere, and the biggest producers are Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, respectively.

Bagley

According to Youngers and Rosin, Mexico has for many decades been a producer of marijuana and heroin for the U.S. markets. It began dealing cocaine in the mid-1980s, when a U.S. interdiction effort shut down Florida as an entry point for cocaine coming from Colombia. At that time, Colombian traffickers began to work with their Mexican counterparts to smuggle cocaine through the U.S.-Mexico border.

Cocaine money increased the power of Mexican cartels and violence escalated. As a reaction to Mexico's growing participation in the drug trade, the U.S. encouraged the Mexican government to increase the role of the military in anti-drug efforts. This was supposed to be a temporary answer, while they found solutions to police inefficiency and corruption. However, more than two decades later, the military has entrenched in this role. Youngers and Rosin

According to Youngers and Rosin, the population and the physicians in the areas targeted by fumigation have reported an increase in a variety of health illnesses. These include skin, respiratory, gastrointestinal ailments, and many other complaints.

Communities affected by spray drift have made similar complaints about their health, their crops, native vegetation, water supplies, and wild life. They have been severely impacted by spray drift. Youngers and Rosin

In 2008, the military campaign against Mexican drug cartels intensified with the launch of the Mérida Initiative. The strategy has made smuggling drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border much more dangerous and expensive. Bagley

Consequently, some Mexican criminal organizations are moving their operations into Central America. However, Mexico's main cartels remain active and influential. Bagley

As Colombia's involvement in the coca business increased, so did U.S. attention to the country. Until the 1990s, drug production in Colombia was concentrated in the hands of a few big cartels and their powerful drug lords. At the beginning of the decade, however, the U.S. assisted the Colombian government in a violent battle to bring down the Medellín cartel. The head of the group, Pablo Escobar, was killed and the cartel was dissolved. After that, the government bargained with the major drug lords of the Cali cartel and successfully dismantled it. Bagley

Consequently, the drug business was spread into smaller organizations known as cartelitos, which are harder to track down and dismantle than their larger counterparts. Violence intensified as so many groups fought over markets and territory. Another unintended consequence of the disbanding of the Medellín and Cali cartels was the takeover of much of the coca cultivation and processing by the left-wing guerrilla Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC) and by right-wing paramilitary militias. The already violent conflict between the two groups deepened after the battle for control over drugs was added to their old grievances. Bagley

Source countries

Countries that contain plants used for the production of illicit drugs, or that hold groups that participate in any stage of production or transportation of drugs into consumer markets.

Securitization

Domínguez

Mexico is a case in point for the way participation in the drug conflict has corrupted the military institution. Historically, Mexico's military has stayed under civilian control and out of politics. However, with U.S. incentive, the armed forces have taken a large role in public drug control.

For Youngers and Rosin, the US had many reasons to encourage military participation in counternarcotics efforts in Mexico. According to Youngers and Rosin, U.S. and Mexico have shared a past of distrust and occasional conflict since their war in 1846, which lasted two years and ended with the U.S. taking half of Mexico's land. Since then, Mexico has been sensitive to issues of sovereignty. Drugs provided a common "enemy" and an opportunity for the Pentagon to engage with its Mexican counterparts and gain their confidence.

According to Otis, Drugs have also fueled violence by funding old guerilla and paramilitary groups and by helping perpetuate deep-rooted battles. Although guerillas and paramilitary groups have existed parallel to the drug problem, the two issues have converged in recent decades, escalating the problem of insurgency.

For a while this was the case with the Shining Path in Peru, and it is still true with the FARC and some paramilitary groups in Colombia. Otis

According to Youngers and Rosin, spray drift has had a perverse impact on Ecuador. Border communities have reported much of the same problems to their environment, health, and crops.

Fumigation from planes is now prohibited in Ecuador. The Ecuadorian government has also made a request to their Colombian counterparts that no aerial spraying take place within ten kilometers of their shared border. Youngers and Rosin

According to the Global Commission on Drug Policy, the source approach has failed to reduce the availability of narcotics in the consumer markets. In fact, world consumption has increased.

Global Commission on Drug Policy

The violence receded after a military coup in 1953 that lasted six years.

In 1959 power returned to the civilian elite under a power-sharing agreement in which elections continued to be held, but the Liberals and the Conservatives alternated the presidency between themselves. The agreement lasted until 1974.

According to Youngers and Rosin, initially governments were cautious to increase the military role in drug control. In the 1980s, most Latin American states were either transitioning into democracy or had just done so. Therefore, the region's nations were concerned about an increased military participation in civilian life at this time of democratic reform.

In 1990, the ambassadors of Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia asked the U.S. to offer greater access to its markets as a way to facilitate economic development, instead of providing increased military assistance. The plea fell in deaf years. The U.S. government continued to encourage Latin American and Caribbean nations to expand the role of the military in their counterdrug efforts. Youngers and Rosin

Hence, as a direct result of the dismantling of the big cartels and the new dynamics of the fight over drug markets, during much of the first decade of the new millennium Colombia was one of the most dangerous and violent countries in the world. Bagley

In 2000 the Clinton administration adopted Plan Colombia to assist in the struggle against the drug-related conflicts being waged in that country. Bagley

U.S' main objective is to stop drugs from crossing its borders.

In an attempt to stop drugs from crossing its borders the U.S. has concentrated its efforts on working in and with source countries.

Anti-drug efforts have had a toll on the environment too, and once again, in Latin America this is most noticeable in relation to cocaine.

In most coca producing countries, eradication of coca crops is done manually. In Colombia, however, mostly due to the danger posed by leftist guerillas, eradication is done mainly through fumigation.

According to the OAS, drug traffickers take advantage of the weakness of the states in the region to develop parallel power structures enabled by a combination of corruption and impunity.

In the countries most involved with drug trafficking, criminal organizations have evolved from a predatory stage, at the local level, to a symbiotic one, with close ties to political and economic sectors at the national level, posing grave risks to democratic governance. OAS Of course, the need to bribe and to launder money only exists as long as drugs are prohibited: Youngers and Rosin

Much of the literature concludes that this supply-focus policy has failed to reduce significantly the production and availability of illicit drugs.

Isacson; Otis; Felbab-Brown; Yougers and Rosin; Global Commission on Drug Policy, and many others.

What were the names of the two main parties in Colombia during La Violencia?

Liberals and Conservatives.

Concerned with the level of corruption and inefficiency inside the police forces of Latin American source countries, the U.S. advocated for the training of the military in drug control strategies. Besides, the U.S. argued, the military would have larger numbers, better discipline, and higher capabilities to brave through inaccessible areas in the jungle, which is often where crops are raised and drugs are produced.

Many specialists also contend that the militarization of drug control was a way to substantiate a continuous U.S. presence in the region and maintain the jobs of those involved in the Cold War efforts when the War was coming to an end. Framing the effort as a "Drug War" and defending the use of the military justified the U.S. presence and a continued cooperation between the Pentagon and the local militaries. Youngers and Rosin

According to Domínguez, the September 11 attacks on the U.S. put an anti-terror lens in U.S. foreign policy, including in Latin America. There was a change in U.S. priorities, often called securitization.

Military and police aid to Latin America more than doubled by the end of the decade, with half going to Colombia, while Mexico, Bolivia, and Peru also received significant amounts. Domínguez

This kind of shift is known as the balloon effect and has been common in the drug-control effort.

More often than not, success achieved in one area works to transfer control of production or distribution to another region without changing the availability of illicit drugs in the consumer market.

Criminalization of consumption has led to overcrowded prisons, or obligatory treatment, which are associated with human rights abuses, contributing to the region's prison crisis. Minor-offenders are incarcerated for excessively long periods of time, while those in the top of the criminal organizations are rarely sanctioned.

Moreover, people of African descent across the Americas are imprisoned at higher rates for drug crimes despite similar rates of drug use throughout racial groups. OAS

While Mexico produces less than ten percent of the heroin the the world, its production is targeted at the US. Bagley

Most heroin consumed in the US comes from Mexico. A smaller amount comes from Colombia and other countries. Bagley

According to the OAS drug-related violence accounts for a significant share of homicides in transit countries and is growing faster than unrelated crimes in Colombia, Venezuela, the Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.

OAS

According to Otis, Ecuador filed suit in the International Court of Justice and Colombia agreed to pay a $15 million settlement to Ecuador for the different problems caused by spray drift.

Otis

The power-sharing agreement expired in 1974. In the meantime, the exclusion of other groups from the political process contributed to the development of a number of insurgent guerrilla movements.

Several of the groups, including the M-19, disarmed and joined the electoral process in 1990, but two groups are still engaged in armed insurrection against the Colombian state, the FARC being the strongest of them.

Therefore as the Cold War was coming to a close, the Reagan administration launched the "War on Drugs"

Shortly after, Congress passed bipartisan legislation to increase U.S. efforts against illicit drugs inside its territory and abroad. The legislation also required the U.S. government to certify its counterparts according to their cooperation in anti-drug efforts. Those who failed to meet U.S. standards of drug-control would face sanctions, have most their aid cut, and have loans denied.

According to Youngers and Rosin, crop-duster planes spray a herbicide. The chemical is nonselective and kills most plants and trees that it comes into contact with. Although the State Department contends that fumigation is carefully targeted, herbicide spray drift is a serious problem.

Spraying affects native vegetation and legal crops, contaminate water sources, aquatic ecosystems, as well as cattle and domestic animals. According to Youngers and Rosin wild habitat has also been impacted with a subsequent reduction in species. This is in part a consequence of fumigation itself, but also a result of coca farmers pushing deeper into the forest following fumigation of their former coca fields. Youngers and Rosin

According to Youngers and Rosin, with its focus on stopping drugs at their source, the U.S. has encouraged an increased reliance on the military forces in Latin America to fight drug production and commercialization. The U.S. government has, therefore, provided resources, training, and doctrinal justification for military participation. The U.S. government has done so in spite of the Posse Comitatus Act in the U.S., which prohibits the U.S. military from engaging in the majority of domestic law enforcement. Hence, the U.S. is asking its counterparts to do something that is illegal in its own country. In fact, it is against the constitution in many of these Latin American nations as well.

The U.S. has also overlooked the lack of sufficient mechanisms for civilian control, transparency and accountability. As a result, military participation in the anti-drug effort has led to the corruption of the armed forces and to human rights abuses, among other problems that will be discussed in the next session. Moreover, the military takeover of civilian duties has created confusion of roles between the armed forces and the police in various countries in the region. Youngers and Rosin

The U.S. is the largest consumer market for illicit drugs in the world.

The U.S. is the largest consumer of cocaine in the world but Europe is closing the gap.

US drug policy shapes Latin American countries' drug policies.

The US focuses on supply. The US works to reduce the supply of narcotics in an effort to drive up prices hoping that this will reduce demand.

In Latin America, eradication has concentrated mainly on the extermination of coca leaf, used to produce cocaine.

The coca plant is native to the Andean region and has legitimate uses as well. The indigenous populations have used its leaves for centuries during religious ceremonies and for medical purposes. The coca leaf is hence part of the Andean culture, though more prevalent in Peru and Bolivia.

Eradication has led to weakened institutions in many other ways. It has, for instance, generated social conflict in several occasions.

The most extreme case led to the forced resignation of Bolivian president Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada in October 2003. Earlier that year, in Peru, president Alejandro Toledo called a freeze on eradication after massive rallies threatened the government's stability. However, he had to resume eradication under the threat of entering the U.S. "black list" under the certification program.

In most countries eradication is done manually, but in Colombia it is also done by aerial fumigation.

The principal agents that bring these policies into action are the military.

According to Bagley, cocaine use has gone through the roof over the last decade. Because of the size of its population, Brazil has the greatest number of users in South America. However, as a share of the population, Argentina and Chile have higher rates of cocaine consumption.

Therefore, even as the U.S. and its partners escalate their force against production and distribution of illegal drugs, the people behind these illegal businesses seem to be a step ahead, moving their enterprises around in a balloon effect, or creating new markets for their products.

Moreover, U.S. officials encouraged Mexico to use the military in its counternarcotic efforts because the U.S. thought the military was the only institution with the manpower, resources, and equipment to counter the threat of well-armed drug traffickers. An additional reason was that Mexican law enforcement was notorious for its links to drug organizations. The U.S. saw the military as a less corrupt option.

Therefore, with U.S. encouragement, Mexico has increased the military role in the federal police forces and prosecutors' offices. Military participation in policing activities achieved its peak during President Fox' administration, but is still very high and has become entrenched. As a result, the Mexican military has gained political influence and has enjoyed increased autonomy, altering its subordination to civilian control and establishing a precedent that risks democracy. Another negative consequence—common to every other country where the military has gotten involved in anti-drug efforts— is that such participation has exposed the institution to the corruption associated with drug trafficking.

Economic costs of drugs: Among many other costs, The criminalization of drugs also impacts the generation of national income, with billions of dollars that could be collected in taxes escaping the public coffers.

This is money that could be used in drug prevention, treatment, impact reduction, or other investments. Criminalization also reduces the income of families, hence, diminishing their capabilities, as even minor offenders have reduced prospects for work.

Plan Colombia was first designed by the Colombian Government. The original proposal called for social investment to create economic alternatives for small cultivators engaged in the production of coca. At the time, the Colombian armed forces had so far managed to avoid a significant role in drug control efforts, as they viewed this as a law enforcement issue, and a responsibility of the police, while they worried about the guerrillas. Youngers and Rosin

U.S. diplomats promised a sharp increase in aid to Colombia if the president revised Plan Colombia to include a comprehensive strategy to strengthen the military, avoid economic collapse, and fight drug trafficking. Youngers and Rosin

This encouragement happened both in the form of monetary incentives (with more military assistance), and in the way of diplomatic pressure—through the demands to meet the targets for the annual certification process. Youngers and Rosin

U.S. officials encouraged Latin American armies to fight drugs by taking on internal roles that would be unthinkable for the U.S. military at home. With U.S. training, equipment, and diplomatic backing, Latin American militaries on counterdrug missions began to mount roadblocks, perform internal surveillance (including wiretaps), execute searches and seizures, force down suspicious aircraft, eradicate crops (or support police eradication efforts), patrol rivers, and, in some cases, arrest and interrogate civilians. Youngers and Rosin

According to Bagley, until the mid 1980s, most cocaine was produced in Peru and Bolivia. Colombia accounted for less than ten percent.

US efforts to fight cocaine production in Peru and Bolivia did not impact the amount of cocaine entering the US soil, but, in a balloon effect, culminated with a shift of production to Colombia by the mid 1990s. Bagley

However, according to Bagley, US' efforts to eradicate drugs were frustrated by yet another episode of the balloon effect.

While Colombia remains a principal source of coca leaf and refined cocaine in the Andes, much of the production shifted back to Peru and Bolivia. Bagley

La Violencia

Years of intense nationwide struggle in Colombia, between 1947 and 1953, when hundreds of Colombians died fighting over land rights and in armed clashes between the two main political parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives.

Corruption is especially acute among police officers. In many cases they strike a deal with one criminal group to go after another. According to Youngers and Rosin, this pervasive corruption in the police was one of the motivations for the U.S. to encourage military participation in anti-drug efforts.

Yet, this led to increased corruption inside the armed forces. Additionally, both institutions were weakened by the confusion that this created, with a lack of clear functions with the military acting in areas that are supposed to be performed by the police. This confusion has also contributed to already problematic accountability, transparency, and oversight, further weakening these institutions, the rule of law, and democratic governance. Youngers and Rosin

According to Youngers and Rosin, the US State Department downplays the environmental and health impacts of fumigation and claim that fumigation discourages coca plantation and therefore hampers deforestation.

Youngers and Rosin

At the production level it is also the weakest who suffer the most. Eradication policies overcriminalize activities viewed locally as inoffensive and lead to exclusion and to resistance because they threaten growers' livelihoods.

Youngers and Rosin

The most devastating effect of fumigation, however, is perhaps the forced displacement of population. Although much of the displacement is a result of armed conflicts, fumigation contributed to the displacement of tens of thousands of people in Colombia.

Youngers and Rosin

Grasshopper effect:

a process of successive evaporation and condensation cycles that allow toxic chemicals to travel long distances.

The most violent state of drug production and commercialization is that of transit.

although violence is less prominent in the consumer countries, it is their demand that fuels the violence in the supply and transit nations.

Certification:

certification requires the president to yearly certify that every major drug-producing and trafficking nation is collaborating fully with U.S. counterdrug measures.