Methods used to grow coca and poppy plants harm the environment in a variety of ways. The coca leaf can be harvested from four to six times a year. This rapid turnover destroys dense vegetation, leaving virtually nothing behind to protect the soil from massive erosion. In addition to making thousands of acres essentially useless, this increased erosion also greatly enhances flooding, ruining more land.

Additionally, slash-and-burn techniques used to cut down millions of trees contribute to air pollution, which accelerates the greenhouse effect, thus raising worldwide temperatures.

Ironically, the recent White House study on global warming neglected to associate drug users who create this demand as prepetuating this problem

Just as devastating as the growth of illicit crops is the refinement of raw coca leaves into finished cocaine. Precursor chemicals, like sulfuric acid, acetone and hydrochloride acid, used to produce refined cocaine, are dumped into rivers and lakes. This radically decreases oxygen content in the waters, and increases pH levels. Soil and plant life also absorb these toxins, further polluting the food chain. For every two acres used to grow coca then processed into cocaine, two tons of pesticides, fertilizers and toxic chemical waste are dumped into Colombia´s soil, streams and rivers.

This horrific level of contamination leads to the agonizing death of millions of rare and innocent animals and fish, as well as the pollution of the Amazon River itself. In attempts to avoid law enforcement agents, or get more fertile soil, drug producers often move to new areas, only to start the raping process all over again.

One solution to this problem, eradication, will help reverse this negative process. The cogent use of a number of relatively environmentally friendly chemicals makes it possible to simultaneously reduce the supply of narcotics and protect the Andean region.

The seemingly most effective chemical is Glyphosate. Farmers in more than 160 countries, including the United States, use this herbicide. In spite of misinformed claims by some environmental groups, Glyphosate is biodegradable, water-soluble and described in a recent State Department report as "one of the least harmful herbicides available on the world market." As an example, in 2000 the Colombian government used Glyphosate to successfully spray 22,800 acres of coca and poppy fields, thus reducing the killing supply to us, and allowing a portion of the jungle to reclaim itself.

Aside from destroying illegal crops and protecting the environment, eradication enables the indigenous population to grow a variety of legal crops. A U.S. agricultural station in the Huallaga Valley of Peru in the late 1940s found that more than 20 high-cash crops could grow in that environment. The eradication of narcotics, coupled with a plan of crop substitution, would enable the peoples of the Andean region to begin a process of environmental, economic and social reform.

Colombian officials have stated clearly that spraying "stimulates the return of involved communities to the cultural, economic, social and labor conditions of the region."

Unfortunately, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and others have neglected this mortal threat to our planet. A lack of physical courage or intellectual foresight has prevented them from either taking a proactive role on this issue, or aligning themselves with other groups.

Environmental activists should stop wondering about the limited possibilities of environmental damage resulting from eradication and start aggressively fighting the massive destruction presently being wrought by drug producers.

Ecological groups have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to bring constructive national awareness to an issue. If these groups would spend as much time and effort on the effects of narcotics production, a problem infinitely more pressing than saving coyotes, they could play a crucial role in turning the tide in the War on Drugs, helping reduce it to its lowest manageable level. They should be actively in convincing every junior high school student in the United States that aside from hurting themselves, cocaine and heroine use kills trees, animals, fish, thereby hurting our environment.

A coalition of anti-drug activists and environmental groups would provide the balanced pressure required to reduce both drug supply and demand as well as raise national consciousness about ecological concerns. Failure to produce cooperation between both ends of the political spectrum may very well lead to the loss of critical environmental treasures.

F. Andy Messing Jr., executive director of the National Defense Council Foundation, is a retired Special Forces major, who advised then-Gov. George W. Bush on narcotics issues in July 1998. Patrick J. Oswald is a research assistant at NDCF.

Source: Washington Times (DC)
Author: F. Andy Messing Jr.
Published: June 20, 2001
Copyright: 2001 News World Communications, Inc.
Website: http://www.washtimes.com/
Contact: letters@washingtontimes.com

Related Articles & Web Site:

Colombia Drug War News
http://freedomtoexhale.com/colombia.htm

Toxic Drift: Monsanto and The Drug War in Colombia
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10137.shtml

So we are suppose to believe that the spraying of pesticides on the ecosystem of Columbia is meant to decrease the environmental destruction that illegal drugs are causing.

As should be obvious, since the growing of these crops is illegal, the farmers have no incentive to practice non-destructive mthods of growth. There is no government bureau to advise them of the most environmentally kind ways of raising coca and poppies. Since they are under the threat of crop destruction by the government, they try to grow their crops as efficiently as possible, and to hell with the environment. That may not be the nicest attitude, but it is certainly understandable.

The obvious solution (one would think) would be to make their crops legal, and to provide assistance so they could be raised in the most environmentally friendly way. The processing plants would also be forced to following the law as regards dumping of toxic chemicals into the Amazon, at least as much as the legal companies are required to do. I understand that some of the oil companies operating in Columbia have made a real mess of the land and water they work around, but still we should expect more from profitable cocaine processors.

"Cocaine and heroine use kills trees, animals, fish, thereby hurting our environment."