Crop eradication

Peterson, Sarah. People and Ecosystems in Colombia Casualties of the Drug War. Independent Review, vol. 6, Winter 2002, pp. 427ff. A little-known source of opposition to the war on drugs is environmentalists, who point out the devastation to people and ecosystems being caused by drug crop eradication efforts in the Andean and Amazonian regions of South... 

Thus far, the information presented certainly indicates that the NDCS activities in the supply reduction area have failed and that some of the results have actually been harmful. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that at least some of the activities have been inappropriate. Specifically, crop eradication seems to hurt farmers in poor countries. The use of pofice and military to fight drug cartels has increased violence and instabifity in Latin America. In spite of the bilhons of dollars spent each year to reduce the supply of illegal drugs, neither the price, nor the purity, or availabifity of cocaine, heroin, marijuana, or methamphetamine has been impacted. Why ... 

However, I do want to discuss the viability of some of the supply reduction approaches because they clearly aren t working. First of all, the United States should stop crop eradication in developing countries. As was said in the previous chapter, crop eradication is an effort to disrupt the livelihood of poor people. It not only is ineflFective it alienates these farmers from the United States. It is difficult to believe that a Colombian farmer would resist growing an alternative crop if that farmer could make the same amount of money that is made growing coca. Therefore, this is an issue of global poverty and can only be solved by international efforts on that issue. 

Gilreath JP, Motis TN, Santos BM, Noling JW, Locascio SJ, Chellemi DO (2005) Resurgence of soilbome pests in double-cropped cucumber after application of methyl bromide chemical alternatives and solarization in tomato. Hort Technology 15 797-801 Gokte N, Mathur VK (1995) Eradication of root-knot nematodes from grapevine rootstocks by thermal therapy. Nematologica 41 269-271... 

Most of the world s drug markets start with the farmer. Unlike other crops, however, the cultivation of opium poppy, coca leaf and cannabis take place under threat of eradication, and so the location and the number of hectares tilled vary substantially from year to year. UNODC, in cooperation with the relevant national authorities, conducts drug crop monitoring surveys in all of the worlds major opium poppy and coca producing countries. Changes in the number and location of hectares under cultivation, as well as crop yields, can thus be tracked with some precision. 

In the Americas, opium poppy continues to be cultivated for use in the illicit markets in North America, although at a much lower level compared to South-West and South-East Asia. Estimates by the Government of Colombia put the area under opium poppy cultivation at about 1,000 ha. The situation as regards opium poppy cultivation in Peru is difficult to quantify as the UNODC supported national illicit crop monitoring system has not yet established a reliable methodology for the detection of opium poppy. The Governments of Colombia, Mexico and Peru all continue to eradicate opium poppy cultivation. 

Perl, Raphael. Drug Control International Policy and Approaches. Washington, D.C. Congressional Research Service, 2003. Also available online. URL http //www.thememoryhole.org/crs/IB88093.pdf. This brief report provides an overview of current U.S. policies toward narcotics-producing nations with regard to eradication of narcotic crops, interdiction, law enforcement, international cooperation, sanctions and economic assistance, and development of institutions. This is followed by a discussion of policy issues involving e.xpansion of efforts in these various areas. 

The Andean Coca Wars A Crop that Refuses to Die. The Economist, March 4, 2000, pp. 23-25. A coca eradication program has cut the coca crop in the area around the Apurimac River in Peru by more than 60 percent since the mid-1990s. However, crop estimates done by satellite can be inaccurate, and the progress may have been at the expense of human rights and democracy. Any loss in the supply of coca may be made up in Colombia on land controlled by the leftist PARC guerrillas. 

America. The author describes some of these consequences of operations such as the ongoing Plan Colombia, including threats to the biodiversity of the Amazon, one of the world s richest ecosystems, and health threats from the herbicides used. Coca eradication efforts also threaten the survival of cultural groups and violate norms of human rights. An alternative strategy, crop substitution, has some promise but can cause economic problems when highly profitable crops are replaced by less remunerative ones. 

Other important members of the azolyl-0,N-acetal family that have been marketed thus far are bitertanol (Baycor, Sibutol) and the imidazole derivative climbazole (Baypival). Bitertanol is not systemic, but penetrates plant tissue and thus possesses curative and eradicative properties combined with protective activity. It is used for control of foliar diseases of various crops such as tree fruit, peanuts and bananas. 

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