Vicious Circle
The Chemical and Biological "War on Drugs"
Aerial fumigations with herbicides of drug crops in Colomba set in motion a vicious circle of human, social and environmental destruction. A worldwide campaign calls for the end of these harmful and inefficient forced eradication practices.
Aerial fumigations with herbicides of drug crops in Colomba set in motion a vicious circle of human, social and environmental destruction. In Vicious Circle - The Chemical and Biological 'War on Drugs', TNI-fellow Martin Jelsma describes how in the course of the cycle human rights are violated, the legitimacy of the state is eroded, alternative development is aborted, peasant support for the guerrilla increases, the war extends to new areas, and the War on Drugs is entangled with counterinsurgency objectives. Over the past decade, more than 300,000 hectares of coca and opium poppy fields in Colombia have been sprayed with herbicides.
The coordinated, forced eradication of illicit crops worldwide has intensified since 1998. Plan Colombia involves the drastic intensification of the chemical War on Drugs. The herbicide currently used is based on glyphosate and has been recently altered in composition causing more severe devastation. The DEA has proposed mass spraying operations of US marijuana crops in order to improve their negotiating position and legitimacy in promoting aerial operations in other countries.
Plans have been made to launch a biological front in the War on Drugs. Bio-herbicides with killer spores intentionally released into the environment, which will multiply and disperse like a plague are considered the ‘silver bullet’ in the War on Drugs. Fungi have been identified to destroy coca, marijuana and opium poppy.
The aerial fumigation cycle causes pollution affecting humans, animals and vegetation, and destroys the livelihoods of peasant and indigenous communities forcing these groups to migrate deeper into the rainforest. This displacement accelerates the pace of deforestation where slash and burned plots are planted with illicit coca or poppy crops replacing those previously fumigated. The new plots are eventually fumigated and the cycle starts over again exacerbating the current armed conflict.
Despite huge areas sprayed net coca cultivation in Colombia tripled since fumigations started, demonstrating the futility of the exercise. Aerial fumigations have only accomplished setting in motion a Vicious Circle of destruction.
This publication analyses the chemical and biological War on Drugs and argues for breaking this Vicious Circle.The first section outlines the chemical operations and impact in Colombia.The second part describes the background and current status of the biological War on Drugs. The third chapter provides a brief overview of the history of forced eradication worldwide within the context of international drug policy trends.
Finally, the last chapter proposes the necessary foundations for an illicit crop policy framework while addressing the most pressing choices Colombia and the international community face today.
A worldwide campaign calls for the end of these harmful and inefficient forced eradication practices. Break the Vicious Circle of aerial fumigations, environmental destruction and the armed conflict in Colombia. Stop the chemical and biological War on Drugs.
About the authors
Martin Jelsma
Martin Jelsma is a political scientist who has specialised in Latin America and international drugs policy. In 2005, he received the Alfred R. Lindesmith Award for Achievement in the Field of Scholarship, which stated that Jelsma "is increasingly recognized as one of, if not the, outstanding strategists in terms of how international institutions deal with drugs and drug policy."
In 1995 he initiated and has since co-oordinated TNI's Drugs & Democracy Programme which focuses on drugs and conflict studies with a focus on the Andean/Amazon region, Burma/Myanmar and Afghanistan, and on the analysis and dialogues around international drug policy making processes (with a special focus on the UN drug control system). Martin is a regular speaker at international policy conferences and advises various NGOs and government officials on developments in the drugs field. He is co-editor of the TNI Drugs & Conflict debate papers and the Drug Policy Briefing series.
Recent publications from Drugs and Democracy
Human rights and drug policyAn accessible but comprehensive primer on why TNI believes that human rights must be at the heart of any debate on drug control. |
Expert Seminar "Where next for Europe on drug policy reform?"Analysis of the new EU strategy on drugs and its action plan and discussion on ways to improve and innovate European drug policy. |
Working towards a legal coca marketModern use of the coca leaf in Argentina provides a series of examples that could contribute to dispelling many of the myths that have polarized debate about the subject over the last few years. |
Informal Drug Policy Dialogue 2013, WarsawThe tenth meeting of the Informal Drug Policy Dialogue series, organised by the Transnational Institute (TNI) and Association Diogenis, took place in Warsaw, Poland, gathering over 35 NGO representatives, academics, policy makers and practitioners. |
