Illicit Drugs and the World Economy

• NCJ Number: 125159
• Journal: Druglink Volume: 5 Issue: 4 Dated: (July/August 1990) Pages: 14-16
• Author(s): P Ardila
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 3 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom
• Note: This article is reprinted from "Drug Trafficking and the World Economy (UN Department of Public Information, 1990), with extracts from "Narcotics and Development" (The Panos Institute: February 1990, P 1-8).

Annotation

The rapid decline of raw commodity prices and accumulation of foreign debt in developing countries in the 1980s lies behind the escalating illicit drug production and trafficking activities in some of those countries.

Abstract

The US Drug Enforcement Administration estimates the Colombian cocaine cartels gross about $50 billion a year, yet only $2 to $4 billion accrue to the Colombian economy. Doria Medina calculated that 15 percent of the total value of cocaine from Bolivian coca stayed in the national economy. Clearly, the greater part of profits from the western hemisphere drug nexus is invested outside source countries or held in overseas bank accounts. The cocaine industry is a major employer in the three key nations of Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru. Warlords operating inside the "Golden Triangle" were estimated to be producing 60 tons of heroin per year in the mid-1980s. Of these, 20 tons were directed to European and North American consumers. Global economic reform is essential to the elimination of illicit trafficking. 3 notes.