Why Won’t It Go Away? the Underlying Cause of Colombia’s Illicit Drug Trade

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The economy in Colombia is one of the reasons why drug production seems to thrive despite the efforts of the United States. Coca and its producers are in fact, not indigenous to the main growing regions in Colombia and growing regions are different than it was five years ago indicating that human migration patterns are important to the dynamic flexibility of new coca growing regions.[15] Despite Colombia’s annual growth rate of 5% from 1945 to 1995, the Latin American debt crisis in 1982 curtailing foreign capital which led to unemployment doubling and prices of Colombia’s largest exports of oil, and coffee declined steadily in the 1980s.[16] This created a lack of economic opportunities leaving thousands of peasants landless which then led to mass migrations to areas where large coca plantations offered the only work available. This increase of labor brought about the emergence of cartels and the organization of the drug trade. This rise did not bring about another migration to coca-growing regions as these groups were able to capitalize on the unemployment effects of financial crisis of the 1980s.[17] These groups were able to maintain the cooperation of the peasants by giving cash in exchange for coca leaves. However, because of the illegal nature of coca cultivation and the association of insurgencies, cultivators are subject to high taxation and coercion by armed groups.[18] The lack of jobs and opportunities in Colombia, caused by the financial crisis of the 1980s, contribute to the illicit drug industry. Workers need to have a way to provide for themselves and their families and with limited optioned available, they have no choice but to work in coca cultivation and production, which would give them steady work and income—no matter if it is through illegal means. To properly deal with the drug industry in Colombia, the U.S. must first address the problem of unemployment. If new plans are put into action that does not address the lack of jobs, they will also become as ineffective as Plan Colombia for while coca fields may be destroyed, people will still migrate to where they are able to get steady work growing coca and the industry will persist despite efforts made. Other factors involved with Colombia’s drug industry are also pertinent in discovering where the U.S. was lacking in its plan in trying to curb the flow of drugs passing through its boarders.

Colombia’s political history also needs to be taken into consideration when figuring out a way to deal with the large drug industry. Chronic civil wars and atrocities committed by left and right-wing insurgencies between each other and the government displaced thousands creating a precedent for migration.[19] The displaced sought refuge in the jungle and therefore ended up being workers on coca fields. These insurrections, rebellions, and revolutions that have occurred from 1946 to the early 1960s have simply been called La Violencia or “The Violence” and since then, have never really been absent.[20] These civil wars resulted in the Colombian government having nonexistent legal control of the affected regions. In order to fund these constant wars, insurgencies later fostered ties with cartels—in the 1980s, the cartels owned 90% international market share of coca-trafficking—leaving these left and right-wing insurgencies in control of these regions.[21] With no legal government to enforce law of any kind, allows groups and peasants to freely grow and cultivate coca. Reasons for Colombia being the locus for drug production stem from its growing de-legitimation of government over the past 45 years which is weakening the state and the institutions within it. The legacies left by La Violencia and the de-legitimation have permitted, if not encouraged, the growth of the coca industry. [22] This rampant lawlessness and violence has also has placed low value on human life—people living in these regions do not consider the life of a human to be valuable—which makes the use of violence more prominent which only perpetuates the violence. The lack of laws and punishment when a crime is committed allows people to break free from the moral dilemma of illegal actions committed. While the U.S. has helped with the Colombian military by training soldiers and providing munitions, not enough is being done to actually make a difference in these regions where insurgency groups are in control. For the U.S. to truly understand why Colombia’s illicit drug industry is so large, global factors need to be taken into consideration.

The most basic reason why there is a drug industry is because there is a demand for it globally. Before 1974, in Colombia there existed narcotics trafficking but it was regional phenomenon confined to trafficking within the Colombian state.[23] It was then that consumer preference changed from marijuana to cocaine, shifting the drug trade from Asia, where marijuana was mostly grown, to Colombia, a region more suited to grow coca.[24] As there is more demand for cocaine, the drug industry will grow in order to supply that demand. The reason there is so much demand for cocaine could be because it is prohibited.[25] Rather than curbing demand for cocaine, prohibiting and criminalizing cocaine might in fact be increasing the demand for it; prohibition of illicit drugs makes it impossible to acquire legally and therefore makes it less available or to be produced through legitimate businesses. This allows for Colombian cartels to control the market value of these drugs which means that there can be potential profit and makes it very lucrative for the underground industry to grow. Since the status of the prohibition of cocaine and heroin is unlikely to change, the underground industry will continue to grow.[26] There is not much that the U.S. can do to lower the demand of cocaine, nor should it be legalized, but for the United States’ future plans and policies that are put in order to inhibit the flow of drugs into the country, they need to look at all the factors involved and hopefully that would be enough to minimize the production of cocaine in Colombia.

Current U.S. policy towards the Colombian drug industry has so far been ineffective because its sole focus has so far been on the eradication of coca fields while disregarding the reasons for there to be such a large drug industry in Colombia. Fumigation and eradication could even be worsening the situation since the people living in the affected areas move deeper into the jungle rather than towards more developed areas. Moving deeper into the jungle perpetuates the cycle of the poor worker and farmer needing to work on a coca plantation to be able to support themselves and their families. The most likely reason why they move deeper into the jungle is since there is a lack of jobs, moving to a city would only worsen their situation as they would have no way