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Connecting YouThe Global Drug Trade
Last Updated on Thursday, 25 February 2010 12:14
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The trade behind cocaine (or coca, as the plant of origin is known) and heroin (which comes from opium poppies) is a global issue.
An estimated four million people depend on income derived from the cultivation of illicit drug crops.
In the year 2000, the global drug trade was estimated at a value of US$400 billion. It’s an issue worth more than the price of feeding the planet over the same period of time.
From the rainforests of South America to the remotest parts of Afghanistan to Pete Doherty’s honker, we trace the journey of the most profitable crops in the world.
Drugs: Nobody's Winning the War
By Phoebe Borwick and Amy Donohue
From the dark ages…
Cue the Spaniards arriving in South America and branding coca ‘a plant that the devil invented for the total destruction of the natives’. Or, that’s what one prominent Catholic artist declared.
They changed their minds a bit when they discovered it really did stimulate quite nicely thus legalising it and charging a nifty little tax for their own economic benefit. For a time, coca was even the main source of income for the Roman Catholic Church. Sneaky, sneaky!
…to today…
Ironically, the two most fatal drugs are still legal today and taxed to the hilt by governments around the world. Alcohol and tobacco kill more people than illicit drugs every year and are both widely accepted and available.
The very fact that other drugs are illegal increases the profit to be made. With criminals running the show, the prices skyrocket.