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Coca plantation - closeup, Putumayo, Colombia
Here it is, the controversial plant. Far in the distance in the mountain range opposite to our hiking path sits a field of Coca. As it really wasn't that hard to discover, our driver speculated it had already been found and was possibly being monitored by the police. As they are often booby-trapped with landmines, this can be a lengthy and dangerous operation.
This plant has only been controversial since the 80s. Before that, for a whopping 8,000 years (if you include Peru) it has been used as a mild stimulant barely stronger than coffee. To this day, it's perfectly legal in Colombia to chew the leaves, although in our experience its definitely not normalized. Our guide had done it a few times and very often had to explain to locals what he was doing.
Growing coca is very attractive for farmers, if not their only choice if they are really poor. It can be harvested several times per year and if processed for the wrong end product (cocaine), barely takes up any space so initial transport is easy.
Indeed, one of the complexities of the war on drugs lies in farming. It is culturally impossible to eradicate this plant as a whole. Furthermore, public opinion does not see the farming itself as an act of evil. Thus, strong government intervention aimed at farmers creates a lot of social unrest. My take on all this: follow the money, not the plant.
As for the safety situation: we didn't feel truly unsafe when finding this. It was a quick peek and snap, and keeping the discussion only between us and the guide, so no local knew we saw it. It's best to play the ignorant card I guess. You saw nothing, you heard nothing, don't ask questions and definitely don't take photos ;)
''Erythroxylum coca'' is one of two species of cultivated coca.
comments (10)
It is definitely a very complex issue, Ferdy. I personally feel that the entire drug war should be ended and that every drug should be decriminalized. I have never understood how/why plants are made illegal! Posted 6 years ago
Or even better: fix the social and inequality problems that leads so many people to need this "escape", but that's of course easier than done. Posted 6 years ago
I feel that a big part of the problem is that people are human and our species has a knack for abusing things. But, it seems like decriminalization would change the way addiction is dealt with, which could be a good thing. But, it could also lead to additional addicts. Or, to the legalization of dangerous drugs - unlikely though in my opinion. I can't imagine anyone legalizing crystal meth. If decriminalization led to more addicts, that would obviously be bad. Where there are addicts, there will also be victims, and there will also be predators preying upon vulnerable people - like kids. It would be ideal if people could just handle these plants in a respectable and safe way without turning it into an issue. Not likely though. Posted 6 years ago
I personally don't think that the actual substances are the root cause of addiction, and I therefore don't have a problem with all drugs being legalized/decriminalized. I truly think that the taboo surrounding drugs lures many individuals into their use, and I don't see any good in labeling it a criminal act. I believe we should focusing on better educating the public about drugs and addiction (in all forms) and providing better help/therapies for those who are already addicts. There is something inherently wrong/flawed in our modern society. There is this alarming need for quick reward and pleasure, and I don't see that the situation is improving. Posted 6 years ago
To illustrate, 10 years ago our countries' largest XTC factory was rolled up. In the town I live, which is a small town nobody ever heard about. It was a small warehouse, a few barrels of cheap chemicals, and a machine. That's it. Just to show how little value the ingredients in themselves have.
I think the vast majority of hard drug addictions are supply driven, not demand driven. The products are pushed, in particular to those areas and people that are ideal for this exploitation. I'd be very curious to learn what would happen if it wasn't pushed at every street corner. Would demand in itself be so strong to create the same level of addiction?
Although not a hard drugs, an interesting local example is marijuana. It has been legal to use it here for decades. This has helped to create the international image of the dutch being dope heads. Not in a serious way, just as a playful tease. In reality, usage here is lower than say the US. Despite it being readily available for anyone in legal ways, it's absolutely not normalized to use it. Demand did not increase for it being legal.
So it looks like as soon as you make something illegal, prices skyrocket, "demand" is artificially inflated by pushing the product, violence escalates, and the total cost for society is exponentially enlarged. A "war" against it only strengthens the business model, it's the best thing that could happen to the producers, it makes their product infinitely more valuable.
It's a very counter intuitive reality. As a society we don't want in particular the hard stuff to exist at all. We don't want people to use it and become addicted to it. Our gut reaction is to therefore fight it by punishing producers and users but after 3 decades we must conclude that it has the exact opposite effect. We're only helping producers. Posted 6 years ago, modified 6 years ago
There's a documentary on Netflix called "Inside the real Narcos" that shows a military task force trying to stop production sites in the jungle. A site is located, and the task force comes in with 2 choppers full of soldiers. The site is abandoned when they find it, and consists of just a few sheets and a bunch of chemicals, the basic tools to extract coca. A setup that could fit in a bathroom, that small. Next, in a showcase of force, the military blows up this site with heavy explosives, whilst high fiving each other.
So they used 20 man days of work, two choppers, and a bunch of explosives to basically blow up a mattress. This is just show business. This would be one of hundreds of tiny production sites in just that valley alone. There isn't really a war on drugs, everybody on the ground knows it's impossible to fight production, so it's all appearances.
The war on drugs is a collective illusion, it doesn't really exist. Nobody is trying to stop production in any serious ways, and stopping distribution is equally impossible. Posted 6 years ago