DRUG LAW REFORM IN LATIN AMERICA THOMAS GRISAFFI Historically, the USA has dictated the terms of the ‘war on drugs’, and has used its political and economic might to crush any debate on alternatives. However, over the past 10 years Latin American governments and civil society organizations have pushed back against prohibitionist drug policies. A regional debate has emerged, focused on the failure of present policies to achieve their desired objectives and the high cost of implementing supply reduction efforts, in terms of drug- fuelled violence, corruption and institutional instability. This essay begins by outlining the characteristics of the global cocaine market. It then examines some of the objectives, methods and consequences of the US-designed and -funded ‘war on drugs’ in Latin America and the Caribbean. The regional debate in Latin America is then introduced—with a focus on the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs of April 2016. Finally, localized steps towards drug policy reform are outlined. DRUG PRODUCTION AND TRAFFICKING Latin America and the Caribbean together represent a critical zone for the production and trafficking of illicit drugs. The Andean region, including Bolivia, Colombia and Peru, is the world’s foremost producer of cocaine. Mexico is the main producer of heroin in the Americas; Colombia, Mexico and Paraguay are all significant producers of cannabis; and syn- thetic drugs are increasingly manufactured in Central (and North) America (UN Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, 2015). For the UNODC, cocaine remains the primary drug of concern in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNODC, 2015: p. xi). Cocaine comprises two distinct products, powder cocaine and cocaine base products, which are commonly referred to as ‘crack’ (in reference to the ‘cracking’ sound it produces when heated). Powder cocaine is expensive, it is normally inhaled and has subtle effects; crack, meanwhile, is a rocky crystal that is smoked. It is cheaper, more intense, and is associated with high levels of street crime. The UNODC (2015) estimates that the total retail value of the global cocaine trade equalled approximately US $85,000m. in 2009 1 . The largest retail markets for cocaine are North America ($40,000m., or 47% of the global market), followed by West and Central Europe ($34,000m., or 39% of the global market). Brazil’s estimated 900,000 users represents the single largest market in South America (Organization of American States, OAS, 2013) 2 . The main ingredient to produce cocaine is derived from coca plants, a perennial shrub native to the Andean region. Coca leaf has been used for millennia by indigenous peoples in the Andean countries and is most commonly chewed or prepared as a tea. The people who consume coca value its properties as a mild stimulant, but it also serves important social, religious and cultural functions (Grisaffi, 2010). Peru, Colombia and Bolivia are the world’s largest producers of coca leaf. The most recent UN coca surveys estimated that Peru has 42,900 hectares (ha) of coca, Colombia 69,000 ha, and Bolivia 20,400 ha. In each country coca cultivation is concentrated in marginal areas, characterized by minimal civilian state presence, limited infrastructure and high rates of poverty. In this context coca complements subsistence farming and, in the absence of other income generating activities, is one of the few pursuits that provide farmers with access to cash income (Grisaffi and Ledebur, 2016). The first stage of cocaine production is a relatively simple process that takes place in small workshops located close to the coca fields or in peri-urban areas. Drugs workers in the Chapare region of Bolivia labour in rudimentary operations to soak shredded coca leaf in solvents to extract the cocaine alkaloid. The lure of fast money and the chance to amass enough to escape grinding poverty or to buy a patch of land is usually what drives them. The workers earn about US $30 per day (agricultural labour pays less than half that) for work that is tedious, irregular, and harmful to health. It is also very risky: if caught, workers face eight years in prison (Grisaffi, 2014). The paste still needs to be refined into pure crystalized cocaine (cocaine hydrochloride), but this is a complex process, requir- ing more skill, equipment, and expensive, difficult to obtain chemicals. Thus, production takes place in larger, more capi- tal-intensive units, with larger workforces, and often counting on higher levels of manpower and security. International traffickers occupy the next stage of the supply chain. This step has traditionally been dominated by Colom- bian traffickers; however of late, their pre-eminent position has been challenged by Mexican organizations (Rico, 2013). The bulk of cocaine that is consumed in the USA first passes through Central America and Mexico. The drugs are shifted in a variety of ways. Colombian traffickers transport cocaine to Mexico and Central America using vessels, including boats, poorly-built submarines, as well as small aeroplanes. Mexican drug trafficking organizations—including the Zetas and the Sinaloa organizations—have established extensive operations in Central America (Honduras and Guatemala), purchasing cocaine from Colombians (or transporting it directly from South America) and smuggling it by land into Mexico. They might also sub-contract work to the maras—gangs from Cen- tral America (Cruz, 2010). Mexican trafficking organizations are the dominant wholesale drug traffickers in the USA and the only drug trafficking organizations to have a nationwide presence. Mexican drug trafficking organizations are not directly involved in street-level distribution of illicit drugs, however (Keefe, 2012). The increase in European cocaine consumption, as well as the higher prices paid there, has led to the establishment of new global trafficking routes and to the increased involvement of new criminal trafficking networks. Most consignments are smuggled in container vessels, primarily from Venezuela and Brazil, and to a lesser extent from Uruguay and Argentina. These shipments are dispatched directly to European ports, with one of the most significant trans-shipment sites being the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands (Zaitch, 2002). Increasingly, drugs destined for Europe first pass through West Africa, usually Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ghana, Mali, and Senegal. Much of the trafficking to West Africa is carried out by large ‘mother ships’ that unload the drugs on to smaller, local vessels off the coast. Traffickers also ship cocaine in large commercial aircraft specifically pur- chased for this purpose (Aning and Pokoo, 2014). Drugs then either move overland and across the Mediterranean using established cannabis resin smuggling routes (from Morocco), or are shipped directly to Europe by drug mules on commercial flights. At its height in 2006 the UN estimated that up to 50 metric tons of cocaine were transiting through West Africa annually, with a final street value of more than US $2,000m. (UNODC, 2011). Given the various production and shipment costs as well as the different levels of interdiction, the value of the drug steadily increases until it arrives at the consumer. In coca growing regions of Bolivia one kilo of unrefined cocaine paste changes hands for as little as US $1,700 dollars (Grisaffi, 2014). Further afield the costs grow exponentially. In Mexico, 1kg fetches more than $10,000. Jump the border to the USA, and it could sell wholesale for $30,000. In 2010 the US street price for one gram of cocaine was $169 3 . So break it down into grams to distribute retail, and that same kilo sells for upward of $100,000 (Keefe, 2012). This shifting value chain reflects a great deal of unevenness with rewards usually flowing to the individuals and organizations that control the movement of the product through the riskiest portions of the supply chain. Meanwhile only a tiny fraction of revenues finds its way back to the Andean farmers. www.europaworld.com 1