In December 2021, the Today Show survey highlighted the environmental impact of illegal marijuana cultivation exploited by Mexican drug cartels in California`s national forests. EU Drug Markets: In-depth analysis is a strategic, action-oriented analysis of available information on illicit drug markets in Europe. It takes a broad view of these markets, from production and trade to distribution and consumption. It provides a holistic, systemic perspective that captures key aspects of the broader impact of drug markets on public safety and health, as well as the key drivers of change and emerging threats. CN: In your opinion, what should be the main objective of drug policy? And what would be its key elements for it to succeed? However, this is not the same as getting it right – and values are paramount. As Kassandra Frédérique recently said on this site, drug policy reform is not an end in itself. It is (or should) be a way to create a more just and equitable society. So, when legally regulated markets emerge, we have to ask ourselves: who will benefit? VFB: The quick destruction of all the coca is easy. It is difficult to create a decent legal livelihood and takes many more years than eradicating a particular coca plantation, which takes only a few days.
I have often stressed this point, and I would like to stress once again, that Colombia would gain enormously from moving away from the zero coca mentality; It should learn from effective strategies in Thailand and political experiences in Bolivia – for example, by requiring that in a development area such as PDET, each family first eliminates 30% of its coca fields, and once certain development goals are met, an additional 20% or 30% is eliminated, for example. Such a sequential approach gives communities and the state an interest in working towards creating viable legal economies and livelihoods without leaving farmers who agree to eradicate their high, dry drug crops and without income, leaving them angry to work with the state. The Community could also be informed that once certain development objectives have been achieved and legal revenues remain and remain at a certain level, all coca will be eradicated, if necessary by force. Instead, Colombia could become a world leader in protecting natural resources and conserving biodiversity. This requires Colombian experts on illicit economies to start thinking beyond drugs. This is all the more urgent for two reasons: But throwing nearly a century of prohibition overboard when the supposed benefits remain so uncertain and the potential costs are so high would require a Herculean leap of faith. Only an extremely serious and widespread deterioration of the current drug situation, at the national and international levels, is likely to produce the consensus – again national and international – that could lead to such a leap. Even then, the legislative challenge would be enormous. The debate over how to set conditions for controlling access to each of the dozen popular drugs could monopolize lawmakers in major industrialized countries for years. It is vitally important that the global consensus on drug policy be broken. The unnecessary and harmful criminalization of cannabis use is running out, opening the door to reasonable debate on broader reforms. VFB: While these three characteristics encompass what is currently understood by crime and illicit economies, the truth is that these criminal markets vary enormously in terms of the level of violence.
Latin America in particular stands out: drug trafficking is two orders of magnitude more violent than in Asia, Europe or the United States. In East Asia, violence in drug markets is often due to bad state actions – such as state-sanctioned blatant murder, dubbed the „war on drugs“ in the Philippines – rather than the violence of criminal groups. Law enforcement agencies in East Asia (such as Western Europe and the United States) have deterrent capabilities that are largely lacking in their Latin American counterparts. On the supply side, I warn in many of my writings against the premature and highly counterproductive eradication of drug crops without alternative legal livelihoods. Such a policy strengthens the political capital of criminal and militant groups in the way I have described. However, what is generally presented as a fairly simple process of lifting prohibitionist controls to reap these supposed benefits would actually mean addressing an extremely complex set of regulatory issues. As with most, if not all, goods supplied by individuals and public funds, the main regulatory issues concern the type of medicines legally available, the conditions under which they are supplied and the conditions under which they are consumed (see page 21). Why is this important right now? As cannabis is regulated by law in more and more countries, shouldn`t we focus on accelerating momentum and celebrating success? This week, the International Drug Policy Consortium released a new report – with input from its global members – on the principles of responsible regulatory regulation of cannabis. The report is important reading, laying out 20 core principles that should underpin a legal cannabis market, including health and human rights, social justice, trafficking and gender. The analysis is carried out in a modular format and each module focuses on the market for a particular drug, thus providing a unique set of essential resources for law enforcement experts, policy makers, the academic community and, indeed, anyone looking for up-to-date information and analysis on drug markets in Europe. As the case for continuing the war on drugs weakens, the debate must change.
Yes, it is important to show how and why the ban has harmed individuals, families and communities; But we must also make sure that what comes next is right and just. By focusing on both the values and the details of what future regulation should look like, we can end war and win peace. My third recommendation is that actors in Colombia – from government officials at all levels to civil society to criminology and crime experts – expand beyond drugs and illegal mining. Illegal logging in Colombia can easily reach levels as horrific as in Brazil or Peru, involving another vicious tangle of violent non-state actors, large legal corporations, and government officials far beyond Choco. Already, illegal logging, including burning, for livestock or African oil palm plantations in places like Macarena, South Narino, Santa Marta or parts of Santander is dramatic; but it receives far less scientific and political attention in Colombia than drugs. Around the world, governments` difficulties in responding effectively to COVID-19 have weakened the legitimacy of states and governments in many ways – again, to the benefit of illegal economies and their sponsors. COVID-19 has shifted more power from states to criminal and militant groups. Even more dangerous, COVID-19 and government responses have also strengthened the very economies (illegal and legal) that are critical sources of the emergence of zoonotic diseases and catastrophic global pandemics – namely wildlife poaching and trade, logging and mining. Logging in Brazil and the Amazon has not slowed down; Their illegal and legal elements have intensified. In both countries, powerful resource extraction lobbies have managed to either pass new laws to overcome environmental concerns to allow for greater habitat destruction (accelerating the rate and extent of viral fallout); or allowing loggers to benefit from more permissive hiring with minimal or no enforcement measures. Poaching has also increased as rangers are deprived of government salaries or ecotourism has collapsed, and desperate populations have lost legal income in rural areas or cities and moved to rural areas where they engage in poaching and logging.
Second, targeting schemes must be adapted to local conditions. So-called decapitation strategies – also known as high-value targeting – are often highly ineffective in responding to drug trafficking groups, as it is very easy to replace the leaders of the illegal drug trade. Targeting can also be highly counterproductive if the fragmentation it causes exacerbates violence, as is the case in Mexico.