Every time a traveller do a line of
cocaine they're actually literally
killing people. There's a lot of violence
in the process. The reality of taking
drugs is meaning that people are killed
that women are raped. That children lose their
parents. Every single family in Colombia
has been affected by the cocaine trade
Colombia has emerged as one of the
must-see destinations but it's hard to
escape the fact that some travelers who
come here are on the hunt for one of the
country's most notorious exports...cocaine
for those who have a taste for the drug
back home the relatively low cost in
Colombia compared to skyrocketing prices
in the West is an increasingly
attractive reason to travel here. Also
with TV series like Narcos on Netflix, there's
a popular fascination with the life of
drug baron Pablo Escobar and more people
are traveling to Colombia to see where the
billionaire kingpin enacted his criminal
reign. If this sounds like you it's
important and take the time to know what
you're really buying into. In the 1970s
cocaine exploded in popularity and for a
number of decades Colombia was by far
the world's largest cocaine supplier
with such high demand for the product around
the world, this led to a massive criminal
enterprise. No one exemplified this
criminality better than drug baron Pablo
Escobar. At the height of his power
Escobar's cartel was bringing in 420
million dollars per week and would you
believe one thousand dollars a day just
on rubber bands to tie up the money. But
as his power grew so did the bloodshed.
It's difficult to determine, but
estimates suggest that Escobar's people
executed well over 4,000 Colombians and
this included an orchestrated plane
explosion.
The effects of Escobar's cartel, and the
other cartels which followed are still felt
in Colombia today and it's fair to say
the Colombians are still feeling pretty
raw about it all. There's definitely increases our
crime rate you know, for locals and for
foreigners you know putting yourself in
danger of going to buy the product. They
assume that when they're doing cocaine
oh they are just having fun and they're just
having a party but in reality it's
caused so much death and destruction
that it would totally offend somebody
here if you walked up and asked them for
cocaine. Given cocaine trafficking is
caused so much damage to Colombian
society you can understand why locals
have such a poor view of travelers who
come here with a hunger for the drug.
Colombians do get upset when somebody
asked them about drugs and cocaine and
we have suffered a lot for a long time
because of the drug trade and for us it
is just not funny. I know that it has done a
lot of harm to the community and the
Colombians don't really like to speak
about it that's what we found
out. You really are interfering and
helping fund a conflict that has run for
more than 50 years. Now to get things
clear it's illegal to sell it so if you
are purchasing cocaine in Colombia you
are committing a criminal act. The simple
reality is if you come to Colombia and
ask around for drugs you're
immediately putting out signals that
you're someone with money and someone
who wants to get involved with criminal
elements. This means by involving
yourself with criminals you are opening
yourself up to be robber or worse. And
finally by purchasing cocaine you're
buying a product that continues to have
devastating effects on Colombia as well
as the rest of the world so in effect
and it might be hard to hear but if
you're purchasing cocaine you're the
problem so if you're headed to this
beautiful country you'd be well served
to have a think about the ethics and
consequences of consuming what can truly
be called
a conflict drug.