Good news comes rarely in the world of illicit drugs.
According to the United Nation’s Office of Drug and Crime, the amount of land in Colombia used for producing cocaine fell 25% in 2012: the lowest level since experts started tracking the numbers. The country has been using aerial and manual spraying techniques, as part of a Clinton Administration counter-narcotics program called Plan Colombia, to eliminate bushes of coca–the plant cocaine is made from.
Reaching statistics similar to 2011, the government manually eradicated almost 30,500 hectares (ha) of coca bushes in 2012 and aerially sprayed nearly 100,550 ha of coca crops. By the end of the year, coca cultivation was slashed from 135,000 ha to 48,000 ha.
An achievement though it may be in its own right, the eradication of such a large amount of coca crops doesn’t necessarily seem to deter coca farmers from attempting to grow more crops. A representative from the United Nation’s Office of Drug and Crime in Colombia has this to say about cocaine production:
“The impact of the government efforts to eradicate illicit coca crop is visible. However, the 2012 and previous surveys show that after eradication takes place, cultivation often resumes in new or previously cleared fields. Therefore, crop eradication, even when it yields positive results, must be complemented by alternative livelihood schemes to improve social, economic and environmental conditions and to achieve a sustainable reduction in the area under cultivation.”
In other words, you can’t just cut the supply-you must also cut the demand. And while it is true that statistically the demand for cocaine has decreased in recent years, 2011 being a milestone year with only 0.5 percent of the US population admitting to using cocaine, down from 2.4 percent in 2006, the overall amount of people admitting to using illicit drugs is no statistic to rejoice over. Illicit drug users increased from about 8 percent of the US population in 2006 to nearly 9 percent in 2010, with a similar, but even steeper, increase in marijuana users.
The techniques employed in the War on Drugs have decisively been centered around cutting off the supply of drugs. Government targets the dealers and the crops as the problem, but it can be argued that this is about as effective as putting paper towels on the floor every day instead of fixing the leak in the ceiling.
Though it may be a valiant effort from elected officials to try to spray drug crops out of existence, the more correct target would be reaching the people responsible for creating the need to produce drugs in the first place. Just like nearly everything else in this world that wasn’t there from time’s beginning, there must first be a need for it in order for us to bring it into existence.
The way the statistics indicate, it does look like cocaine use could continue to see a lower rate of usage, but the fact that other illegal drug usage has taken its place isn’t much of a victory in the War on Drugs. Not to mention the fact that painkiller abuse has also gotten out of control, with one every ten high school seniors admitting to having abused prescription painkillers. Since drugs like painkillers and marijuana are becoming more and more legally obtainable, it looks like this should be much more of a War on Cultural Thinking than a War on Drugs.
With continued hard work by communities and anti-drug groups, however, we may continue to be able to see less cocaine addiction along with less cocaine production.
