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Judi Lynn

(160,211 posts)
Mon Apr 22, 2013, 04:38 AM Apr 2013

Can Bolivia teach the US how to fight drugs?

March 24, 2013 06:01
Can Bolivia teach the US how to fight drugs?

Although criticized by Washington, Bolivia’s softer approach to fighting drugs may work better than US-designed strategies in Peru and Colombia.

LA PAZ, Bolivia — Could Bolivia have a lesson to teach the United States about the war on drugs. Ever since Evo Morales was elected president in 2006, La Paz and Washington have been at odds over the flow of cocaine across the impoverished Andean country’s borders. A former coca growers’ leader, Morales has repeatedly defended the right of Bolivians to cultivate the plant — the key ingredient in the illegal drug. Andeans have also traditionally chewed its leaves for a mild, harmless high — similar to that from a cup of coffee — long before a German chemist discovered how to process cocaine from it in 1859.

Morales even kicked out the US Drug Enforcement Administration in 2008. However, Bolivia’s go-it-alone approach may be yielding better results than the US-designed strategies adopted by the other two main cocaine-producing nations, Peru and Colombia. According to the United Nations, Bolivia was the only one of the three that reduced its coca cultivation in 2011, the most recent period for which results are available. That year, the total number of hectares of coca grown fell 12 percent to 27,200 (67,212 acres) in Bolivia. In Peru it grew 5.2 percent to 64,900 (160,371 acres) and in Colombia it went up by 3 percent to 64,000 (158,147 acres).

That success begs the question of whether the US State Department will finally “certify” Bolivia as having made genuine and significant efforts to stop the drug trade.

Through its annual certification process, Washington gives — or withholds — its seal of approval to different countries’ counternarcotics policies, which influences whether they receive aid or trade benefits. According to the State Department’s 2012 report, Bolivia had “failed demonstrably to meet its obligations under international counternarcotics agreements.” However, the same report gave the thumbs up to Colombia and Peru, both strong US allies, despite the fact that both saw coca cultivation rise.

“We cannot understand this political decision,” says Sabino Mendoza, head of CONALTID, the Bolivian government’s anti-drugs agency. “The fight against the illegal trafficking of drugs is high priority for this government.” Many Bolivians suspect the certification process may be influenced by outside issues.

More:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/bolivia/130321/bolivia-drugs-coca-cocaine-us

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dotymed

(5,610 posts)
1. If Bolivia will cede us land for a military base,
Mon Apr 22, 2013, 07:13 AM
Apr 2013

and grow opium instead of coca, MAYBE we will ALLOW this sovereign nation to be treated as well as Afghanistan, Pakistan or the other CIA drug producing countries. If these sovereigns do not obey and show fealty to empire, they have no rights.

bemildred

(90,061 posts)
2. Maybe "treating people" voluntarily works better than "fighting drugs" militarily.
Mon Apr 22, 2013, 09:36 AM
Apr 2013

At least the former makes some sort of sense, while the latter is confused about it's intent from the beginning. I mean: are we supposed to be helping people with problems, or protecting society from harm, or are we just out to punish and throw as many people as possible in the slammer for being disobedient?

You are not going to convince me that our rulers in their statehouses and congresses actually give much of a shit about what happens to the disobedient in the underclasses. I've been there, they largely care only for themselves and their careers.

If your genuine intent is harm reduction then you DO NOT criminalize mere possession of otherwise innocuous or beneficial substances like cannabis and it's commercial/recreational uses, or any damn thing else that you really don't have to.

 

RC

(25,592 posts)
3. "Can Bolivia teach the US how to fight drugs?" No, not as long as we insist on sticking to the
Mon Apr 22, 2013, 11:16 AM
Apr 2013

"Not Invented Here" mentality. Until we change that, no one will be able to teach us anything.

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