In a Reuters article this week it was reported that Colombian vice president Franscisco Santos points to people like Kate Moss for the Colombian cocaine problem. According to him, it is people like Moss that glorify the use of cocaine. After the fact of getting busted for use, it appears that Moss has still managed to get lucrative contracts. The vice president feels that she's been let off quite easy. He also points out that, "Every gram of coke that is consumed is soaked in Colombian blood." I don't think Moss in the only user, and the article implies that the vice president wasn't trying to lay undue blame Moss, just citing her for an example of users that don't pay a price.
I think that the vice president makes a good point. The users as a whole drive the market for the drug. There is still an abundance in society, and I'll cite the example of my home town, Nanaimo, where the price per gram is roughly $45. This contradicts people like U.S. drug czar John Walters claiming the drug war is being won, and citing high street prices as success. Not so. There is still an abundance. Perhaps some regions or cities have made strides in control, but in society overall it is still flowing in.
Back to Santos' point, the problem is the demand, not necessarily the supply. This contradicts the expensive US effort of supply-side control, which isn't cost effective, or working. I'm not sure many users are acutely aware of the problems that cocaine has contributed to in regard to the country's history of violence. But I think that Santos makes a good point that people should think about the consequences for Colombia by taking the drug - - a different angle than focusing on the legality and health issues.
Source:
http://www.alertnet.org/db/blogs/1265/2006/10/3-150949-1.htm
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4 comments:
I agree that too many people focus on the legal and health issues surrounding the cocaine problem rather than on the effect on the Colombian people. I'm surprised how little some people know about Plan Colombia, or the fact that the coca plant has other uses aside from the narcotic end of things.
This is great! I love the change in attitude. Ditto to Ross' comment and your post, Dave. If there is demand, there will always be supply.
In my opinion, one good way to hider demand is making people aware of the consequences of snorting a line of cocaine. I think it's good to make you think about the harm you are doing no only to yourself, but also to people in other parts of the world when you decide to take a line.
Social awareness in this part of the world is the way to go. I fully support the "shared responsibility" campaign. Thanks for that post
All the more reason to give power to pot users who grow at home for personal consumption. Nobody is being harmed. How much money is wasted on controlling this growth and distribution of this "illegal substance". Not to stray from the topic, but I just wanted to reinforce how misconceived and absurb the War on Drugs really is.
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