Coca Production Makes a Comeback in Peru

[groovedaddy]

TINGO MARÍA, Peru — Coca cultivation is surging once again in this country’s remote tropical valleys, part of a major repositioning of the Andean drug trade that is making Peru a contender to surpass Colombia as the world’s largest exporter of cocaine.

Mexican and Colombian drug trafficking rings are expanding their reach in Peru, where two factions of Shining Path guerrillas are already competing for control of the cocaine trade.

The traffickers — fortified by the resilient demand for cocaine in the United States, Brazil and parts of Europe — are stymieing efforts to combat the drug’s resurgence here and raising the specter of greater violence in a nation still haunted by years of war.

“The struggle against coca can resemble detaining the wind,” said Gen. Juan Zárate, who leads the country’s coca eradication campaigns.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/americas/14peru.html?th&emc=th

[Warpy]

1. It's also a vitally necessary plant in the Andes

that allows people to work in high altitude. It's one of nature's real gifts that allows us to live in such inhospitable climates and thrive in low oxygen environments. There are times I wish it grew this far north, here in the high desert.

That's the leaves, though, not the refined drug.

People can and do run into serious trouble with the refined drug, from heart problems through dependency and into addiction. It's really a shame the leaves aren't widely available. I wonder how many people would seek out the overpriced refined drug if they were.

The drug war is insane. It encourages the refinement of drugs from plants that would relieve pain, increase energy, and help us cope with the discomfort of life on their own, simply because the refined drugs are easier to conceal and transport and bring much higher prices in a black market.

I'm beginning to think the main thing that drives rates of abuse and addiction is the drug war, itself.

[groovedaddy]

2. Yep. Seems almost like a business plan. n.t