tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post2555983189292867322..comments2023-09-20T11:15:28.673+01:00Comments on Transform Drug Policy Foundation Blog: World Drug Report Preface majors on legalisationjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15263261726046054614noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-34990189836900020492009-06-26T16:59:27.253+01:002009-06-26T16:59:27.253+01:00'Are the partisans of this cause also in favou...'Are the partisans of this cause also in favour of legalizing and taxing other seemingly intractable crimes like human trafficking?'<br />As a partisan I am indeed in favour of legalizing human trafficking. I think I'l call it immigration.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-39901389582837910482009-06-26T13:41:19.705+01:002009-06-26T13:41:19.705+01:00great observation Alejandrogreat observation AlejandroSteve Rolleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11487781869462634203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-55735046337432253702009-06-26T13:40:53.607+01:002009-06-26T13:40:53.607+01:00from Sanho Tree:
Q) According to a recently relea...from Sanho Tree:<br /><br />Q) According to a recently released UN report, coca cultivation in Colombia fell by 18 percent in 2008, in stark contrast to the previous year’s 27 percent increase. Meanwhile, neighboring Bolivia and Peru saw 6 percent and 4.5 percent increases respectively in the cultivation of coca, the main ingredient of cocaine. What <br />explains the turnaround in illicit coca cultivation in Colombia? What implications do the <br />new UN numbers have for drug policy in the region? What tactics can turn back production in Peru and Bolivia, and will their governments pursue those?<br /><br />A) Guest Comment: Sanho Tree: "Beware of lights at the end of the tunnel because this one is likely an oncoming train". When I was in southern Colombia four months ago, people were in a terrible state of economic distress and replanting coca in earnest. Today the food <br />security situation in some regions has reached crisis levels. Why are campesinos replanting in such a hurry? A massive pyramid scheme by DMG corporation -- with branch offices in major coca growing centers -- had just been shut down by the government in November costing victims close to a billion dollars.<br /><br /><br />Unlike other Ponzi schemes, owever, the impoverished victims continue to worship David Murcia Guzmán, the founder of DMG, for he did what the state never cared enough to do. Though likely a paramilitary money laundering/pyramid scheme, DMG provided a huge influx of capital and credit much like our economic stimulus package. The multiplier effect allowed cocaleros to survive after their fields had been fumigated or manually eradicated. Ironically, as coca eradication escalated, the local economy grew <br />because of DMG. People opened shops, restaurants, and transitioned into non-coca related businesses.<br /><br />With the collapse of DMG, those who haven’t joined the ranks of the more than four million internally displaced are furiously replanting <br />coca deeper in the jungle and in dispersed patterns difficult to detect or eradicate. The lesson here is that when there is food security, many things are possible. Without it, little is possible because people panic and will grow the only easily transportable crop for which there are ready buyers: coca. If the state is willing <br />to provide an honest stimulus, the impending rebound in coca may yet be mitigated."Steve Rolleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11487781869462634203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-49165646891831081742009-06-26T03:48:09.618+01:002009-06-26T03:48:09.618+01:00This is simply a joke and makes a mockery of the e...This is simply a joke and makes a mockery of the entire UN system and the notion of human rights.<br /><br />That Costa is complicit in human rights violations, I have no doubt.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-62772397223708804742009-06-25T11:35:52.422+01:002009-06-25T11:35:52.422+01:00A-II section of the report is a very valid argueme...A-II section of the report is a very valid arguement, we can't go out on a limb and hope that the information and education will have a significant impact on the explosion of drug use, though this point is often countered with the reasoning that provided and regulated drugs would still not appeal to those people who were fixed on not using drugs in the first place. It does crack open that section of society (and this cuts across development divides) that would otherwise not be inclined towards drug use due to its legal rammifications. But then again I fundamentally disagree with this argument that drug misuse fuels deprivation when it could not be more obvious that it is the other way round. Last point- I object to his banding of rich and beautiful together.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16064446901691610613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-90816694760750483062009-06-25T00:34:04.012+01:002009-06-25T00:34:04.012+01:00Was it just me or did someone else pick up the mas...Was it just me or did someone else pick up the massive contradiction underlying the WDR's main argument for continued prohibition? In section 2.1 of the report, the UNODC crowd pretty much concedes that a legalize-tax-and-regulate framework would work...but only in developed countries. Developing countries are thought unable to impose meaningful taxes and regulations on a legal drug industry, and therefore, would see their consumption levels explode. Thus, global prohibition must continue for the sake of poor countries (the condescencion is almost unbearable).<br />Yet those same developing countries are expected to, simultaneously,: a) succesfully interdict supply; b) reform police forces and judicial systems; c)fight corruption in the face of massive illegal profits; d)address the problem of slums and dereliction in cities; e) close open drug-markets; e)provide universal access to drug treatment; etc. etc. If the governments of developing countries are considered too weak to tax and regulate small national drug markets, why would anyone think them capable of performing that daunting list of tasks? The contradiction is so glaring that my eyes hurt.Alejandro from Mexiconoreply@blogger.com