Francisco E. Thoumi

Illegal Drugs in Colombia: From Illegal Economic Boom to Social Crisis

During the past thirty years, the illegal drug industry has marked Colombias development. In no other country has the illegal drug industry had such dramatic social, political, and economic effects. This short article provides a synthesis of the development of the marijuana, coca-cocaine, and poppy-opium-heroin illegal industries. It studies the development of the drug cartels and marketing networks and the participation of guerrillas and paramilitary forces in the industry. The size of the illegal industry and its economic effects are also surveyed and its effects on the political system analyzed. The article ends with a discussion of the evolution of government policies and social attitudes toward the industry. The article shows that in the early years, the illegal industry was perceived by many as positive, how it evolved so that today it provides substantial funding for the countrys ambiguous war, and that it is one of the main obstacles to peace.

The Numbers Game: Let's All Guess the Size of the Illegal Drug Industry!

Narco-trafficking moves between 20 and 30 percent of the world economy. (Ríos, FARC-EP, 2000, p. 154) Drugs provide Colombias biggest source of foreign income, nearly 36 percent of its total gross national product. (Freemantle, 1986, p. 211)

Can the United Nations support "objective" and unhampered illicit drug policy research?

Policies towards mind-altering drugs are controversial and vary among countries and cultures. Many nations feel that the United Nations should be a forum where anti-drug issues can be discussed openly and `objectively. During the 1990s I participated frequently in U.N. sponsored research projects. This essay summarize what has been a challenging and exciting experience and raises many questions about the U.N.s capacity to do and or fund `objective drug research. This is so because of pressures on the U.N. from drug-policy setting countries, lack of independent funds for the U.N. drug policy agencies, the structure and internal dynamics of the U.N. bureaucracies, and the background of the involved U.N. staff. As a result of these factors, the U.N. has promoted a repressive anti-drug agenda and does not allow open debate of many of key anti-drug issues currently discussed in many coutries. This is unfortunate because the UN. has the largest amount of information about illicit drugs anywhere in the world and can play a key role improving anti-drug policies that currently are unsatisfactory to both, drug hawks and doves.

Why a Country Produces Drugs and How This Determines Policy Effectiveness: A General Model and Some Applications to Colombia

Criminal impunity combined with rampant violence has created an environment in which vigilante justice and retribution has replaced legal recourse. Human rights abuses are pervasive. Violent deaths are only one indicator of this problem. Colombia today accounts for about one-half of all kidnappings reported in the world and extortion from businesses and “vaccines,“ or fees paid to prevent kidnappings, are common occurrence. The actors of the country’s “ambiguous war” benefit from these schemes but also do common criminals.1 Kidnapping is frequently a private business. Its development has spurred the growth of a “secondary” market in which common delinquents operate, abducting hostages who are then sold to guerrilla fronts. A kidnapping negotiation industry has also sprouted to serve the victims’ families and employers.