The Los Angeles Times reports on the cultural distinction that is made in Bolivia between the Coca plant and its use in plant form (chewing it, etc.) and its use to produce cocaine. The farmers would like to grow more Coca, but apparently have little interest in cocaine.
“Bolivian President Evo Morales, who took office in January 2006, rose to prominence as a leader of the country’s coca producers. He has proclaimed a goal of “zero cocaine” while simultaneously exalting coca production as a linchpin of Bolivia’s social and economic identity. He favors the “industrialization” of coca for products as varied as tea, medicines and toothpaste, and is pushing to abolish international bans on export of coca products. From Morales’ viewpoint, coca is a resource to be exploited, like natural gas or minerals. He and his supporters draw a clear dividing line: The good guys are the poor cocaleros, or coca growers; the bad guys are those who use the substance to produce and transport cocaine.”
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that “in 1999, Washington launched “Plan Colombia,” with the promise that the anti-drug program would halve Colombian cocaine production. ”
“The law of unintended consequences rules in this drug war. Plan Colombia has not delivered. ”
“U.S. crop dusters have sprayed an area the size of Delaware and Rhode Island. U.S. taxpayers have forked over some $4.7 billion. Yet cocaine is abundant and cheap on the streets of America. As Ken Dermota wrote in the July/August issue of the Atlantic, the price of a gram of cocaine in Los Angeles fell from $50 to $100 per gram in 1999 to $30-$50 in 2005. Prices are down in New York, Seattle and Atlanta. White House Drug Czar John Walters recently admitted that street cocaine prices fell by 11 percent from February 2005 to October 2006. ”
“Demand isn’t the issue. Demand remains steady. Supply is the issue: Growers produce far more cocaine than the world consumes.” . . .
In an article entitled “Cocaine: Hidden in Plain Sight” in the Fashion and Style section <!> of today’s New York Times, frequent and heavy cocaine use is reported as having made a BIG comeback. One theme of the article is that today’s cocaine users have no memories of the sorry deaths of John Belushi and Len Bias and hence little reason to think of the risks. Cocaine is described as today’s “weed”.
I wonder who will become cocaine’s posthumous poster child for today’s users?
The Houston Chronicle has an Associated Press story that reports: “Despite record drug eradication efforts, a White House survey found production of coca in Colombia rose for the third consecutive year in 2006, President Alvaro Uribe said.
Uribe, who travels to Washington on Wednesday to secure the continued flow of U.S. anti-drug aid, revealed the findings of the still-unreleased report at the end of a long speech Friday. A transcript was posted today on the president’s Web site.
Uribe said the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy survey, which is based on satellite imagery, found that production rose 8 percent last year, to 385,484 acres — an area twice the size of New York City.
“Yesterday (for Thursday) they told me they were worried about revealing this number because of my upcoming trip to the United States, that the Americans should reveal it,” Uribe said. “But that’s why I’m revealing it. We’re not trying to put makeup on what is a serious matter.”"
Evo Morales, the likely winner of the Bolivian presidency, has promised to de-criminalize coca growing (in addition to nationalizing natural gas).
No snowmen in Florida, at least not on t-shirts. Soundslam News reports that "The Polk County School System in Florida’s public education network has recently banned the Snowman t-shirts for their symbolic representation for “snowâ€, or otherwise known as cocaine."
And apparently the "Miskeen Originals company that first produced the Young Jeezy “Snowman†shirts has since cancelled the production and distribution of the clothing upon hearing of the shirts symbolic meaning."
Reuters reports: "Cocaine is becoming more expensive on U.S. streets in a sign that a $3 billion aid program to Colombia is finally bringing results and reducing illegal drug imports, the White House drugs czar said on Thursday. The price of cocaine on U.S. streets rose by 19 percent from February to September, hitting about $170 per pure gram, according to data published by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Higher prices probably mean less of the illegal stimulant is making it to U.S. shores, as users try to outbid each other, the office’s director, John Walters, told Reuters. He hailed more expensive cocaine as a sign of the effectiveness of more than $3 billion in mainly military aid since 2000 to Colombia, which produces most of the world’s supply of the drug. … "
(You sure it’s not the price of gas?)