The goal of a drug free world has caused more problems than it has solved.
If you’re from Colombia and you’re traveling abroad, you can pretty much bet that someone
you meet will say jokes about cocaine.
This illicit trade has become a source of shame for the whole country and during the
last two decades colombians have been working hard to improve their reputation worldwide.
So what should colombians do about coca?
Not cocaine, mind you, but coca, the plant that grows so easily in this country which
is used as the raw material to produce cocaine.
For many folks throughout the Andes region—who are often from indigenous communities—
coca is not something to be ashamed of.
It’s not “illegal.”
To them, it is part of their long-held and deeply-valued culture and tradition.
They don’t want coca to be eradicated.
They want to reclaim this plant—reclaim its meaning—so that the world will stop
associating coca with the drug trade.
And in order to do that, some of these folks are trying to show that coca can have other uses.
Some that are traditional, such as mambe—a mild stimulant, like coffee—
and others that are still being explored, like fertilizer and even baked goods.
How many other things can coca be good for?
This was the question at the center of a research project that took place in Colombia in the last few years.
And given that coca is still used to produce cocaine, the follow-up question was:
Are these alternatives profitable enough?
If there is a way for farmers to make a living with coca without using it for cocaine,
then there is hope for both farmers and for coca.
But if farmers can’t make as much money as they would on the illegal market,
then change will be unlikely.
Now, you may be thinking: How could another product make enough to even compare to the drug trade?
If you’re a big-time drug dealer, you probably won’t find anything as lucrative.
But farmers aren’t big time drug dealers. The amount of money that actually makes its
way to them is relatively small.
Finding an equivalent for them may not be as hard as it looks,
especially if they are involved in most of the value creation.
Finding alternatives would create more profits for the farmers, and less violence overall.
So that was the idea.
Promising, right?
Well, the good news is that several legal products that use coca—liquid fertilizers,
organic compost, coca flour, coca fuel—proved to have markets of their own.
Even better, these markets have had a huge social impact for the farmers that were previously criminalized.
Many farmers commercialized their crops, and participate in an economy outside the drug trade.
Communities have embraced these initiatives.
For instance, in one community, researchers arrived to buy the town’s coca harvest,
and the priest—a local authority—used the church megaphone to remind the farmers about the due date.
On the day of, everyone came with their crops.
This is a huge accomplishment, especially if you consider the symbolic nature of selling
coca proudly in a country that has bled so much due to the drug trade.
Now, here’s the bad news: While these initiatives are encouraging, they’re still very far
from being profitable enough to be an alternative to cocaine.
One reason why is because the drug trade is huge—it’d be tough for any market to compete.
But also, given the legal status of coca, farmers have to deal with obstacles that make
the use coca for legal products almost as cumbersome as selling drugs.
We should note, we are making progress, and there are a lot of lessons for the rest of the world to learn.
What’s most important to remember, is that making this plant illegal actually helps to
reinforce the problem of drug trade.
And ultimately, we are talking about a plant.
We are talking about DNA here, an organic thing that grows leaves, and twigs, and needs sunlight.
Are we supposed to think that the mere act of putting a seed on the ground is wrong?
Or is that just a lazy solution to a problem that we ourselves created?
No.
What we really want is for Colombian government officials, academics, civil society groups,
international agencies, and industry leaders
to work together with the coca farming communities and develop a balanced policy.
And develop a balanced policy. And does a balanced policy for this new era of peace look like?
It respects the rights of indigenous people and promotes scientific research,
as well other uses of the plant, while at the same time decreasing violence and
raising living standards for all Colombians.
We know this is doable; we have seen a similar balance work in the Andean region.
We just have to work hard, believe in each other, and never give up faith that, together,
we can create a future Colombia that is both prosperous and just.