Coke: the drink and drug of choice

Whenever I enter a restaurant, I try to order a Pepsi, but only Coke is available. Like Coke, the drink, coke, the drug, is just as prevalent. Coca Cola once contained cocaine in it when the drink first came on the market and so the connection to Colombia makes sense. Access to the drug is easy to come by and one only need to ask a bartender to get the right contacts and phone numbers. I am told that 1 gram of coke costs about $4 here where as in London, a gram might cost about $80 and in the US, a little less than that. One doesn't have to be a Hollywood movie star to afford an addiction. Tourists at my hostel are regularly using coke and I feel a little weird being in this type of surrounding, but no matter what hostel I am in, I will encounter the same. Sometimes, I think some people travel to Colombia just for the drugs. I am saddened to know cocaine is capable of not only ruining lives, but also causing the deforestation of the lands and costing billions of American dollars and those creating the demand are partly to blame.

The cultivation of the coca leaves and the production of cocaine is causing massive environmental issues. Coca leaves only contain about 0.1 to 0.9% of cocaine and therefore many plants are necessary for production, which only results in deforestation of the land and removal of key and native wildlife thereby damaging fragile ecosystems. Coca farmers don't always bother to properly terrace the lands and ensure against the top soil from eroding and therefore, after heavy rains, the land is no longer useful for further coca production only leading to even further deforestation. Additionally, the production and purification of cocaine hydrochloride, the powder usually found on the streets requires the use of sufuric acid, ethyl ether, acetone, and kerosene; chemicals that are just poured into the soil after use or dumped into the river streams that feed the wildlife and people of the land.

Colombia controls about 80% of the world's supply of cocaine. The US attempts at controlling the flow of the drug into the US have been costly, but minimal. The US has ineffectively given billions of dollars to Plan Colombia that is suppose to eradicate coca growth as one of its objectives. However, the use of spraying chemicals all over the countryside to kill coca plants only helps to further pollute the environment and move the coca growers farther inland while they deforest even more land. According to the UN, coca output is down 2%, but planting of coca bushes is up 27%. Plan Colombia may be eradicating coca plants from hitting the market, but it has only increased the number of plants being planted, adding to the deforestation concerns. Moreover, a new strain of the coca leaf has emerged that is resistant to the chemical sprays. This strain not only produces more leaves, but also is suppose to be more potent. This is a byproduct of Plan Colombia and does not help its cause. The war on drugs continue...