While the War on Whatever continues in the spotlight, let’s take a moment to remember the War on Drugs and see how it’s going. Rather than criticize how it affects us locally, we’ll take a look at Colombia. BBC News ran a very brief article stating, “The Colombian anti-narcotics police have announced that a record number of drug crops were sprayed during 2004.”
It goes on to state that prices and supply haven’t changed; the drugs are even cheaper. Additionally, “The US authorities say this is due to drug stockpiles that the traffickers have been gradually selling off.”
The article inconclusively ends. Stating that drug farmers have switched tactics by growing smaller crop fields in areas hard to spot. With a little digging, evidence points to a more difficult reason.
Wired handled a journalist’s story to discover whether drug lords have been genetically modifying coca leaves to resist being sprayed. After a lot of reading, the lowdown is that farmers have simply selectively grown coca plants (called Boliviana negra) that resist glyphosate treatments. In truth, US aerial sprayings are doing a bit of the weeding work for these farmers.
While current US policy insists on the success of aerial eradication and damage being done to “narco-terrorists.” Again, a lack of foresight and creativity is demonstrated in handling or even acknowledging Boliviana negra.
“This war against narco-terrorism can and will be won and Colombia is well on its way to that victory,” said Bush. — In These Times
Sound familiar?