Feature: Is Fairtrade Cocaine The Answer To South America's War On Drugs?

We've seen the pictures of the comatose teen hooked up to tubes released by parents as a stark warning on the 'dangers of drugs'.   We all know that drugs kill the drug users... but what about the others? What about the farmers, the mules, the innocents blown up by landmines, the indigenous people enslaved, the rainforests razed, the children forced to fight, the thousands killed by hit men? It's a horrifying list that affects thousands every year and has led to the Anglo-American ‘War on Drugs’. But, as many claim, the war isn't working, so is it time for a more radical approach?
 
Let's take a moment and consider this - what if cocaine was legalised and globally regulated? And, whilst we're there, we may as well go a step further and ask: what if it were certified Fairtrade? 

"The coffee grower does not want to get into illegal business with a lot of risk... But he accepts that risk because there is nothing else to do."

With more demand for cocaine than other agricultural products, perhaps, from the farmer's perspective, it makes sense to switch to the illegal trade. But, as the farmer enters the black market, the difference between what he or she makes per year for their efforts and what drug king pins - such as Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán [1], one of Forbes most wealthiest men on the planet - make is sizeable. Receiving just 1.5% of the coke's street-cost in gross pay (check out page 79 of this document [2]), he has just entered a lifetime of extortion from the cartels and fear from the law. 
 
"The coffee grower does not want to get into illegal business with a lot of risk," says Vitelio, a Colombian farmer. "But he accepts that risk because there is nothing else to do."
 
"Every gram of coke that is consumed is soaked in Colombian blood," said the Colombian vice-president, Francisco Santos, as he launched the 'shared responsibility' campaign in 2006. The campaign called for users in the west to consider the impact snorting a line has on production and transit countries. He added that the guerrillas and paramilitary groups receive the majority of their funding from the drug trade and protect their coca crops with landmines that claim an estimated four victims every day [3].
 
Sir Keith Morris, prominent former Ambassador to Colombia, said the war against drugs - in which the eradication of coca crops and seizures of trafficked coke are rife - is "unwinnable, costly and counter-productive". In its place he urged for an establishment of a legal framework in which drug sales would be taxed and the money put back into the community.
 
It may seem an outrageous suggestion; but it's not an unusual one. Many prominent experts have called for a detailed discussion on this approach within the producer and user countries. Here in the UK, there have been calls for the switch from treating drug users as criminals to people with social issues. Maybe, with the Fairtrade strict code of conduct applied, all involved in the production chain would receive a fair price and have the security of working in an ethical environment that uses the money for the common good, just as Sir Keith suggested. 

"Every gram of coke that is consumed is soaked in Colombian blood."

Writing in an article for The Guardian advocating the legalisation of drugs in 2001, he said: "… Taking drugs out of the hands of the traffickers would reduce political and economic instability in producer countries and violence and crime everywhere."
 
With shows like Mad Men [4] giving us the impression that everyone drank a stiff whisky for breakfast in the 60s, it may be a surprise to know that just a few decades earlier alcohol was a major commodity on the black market, due to its pre-1930s prohibition. The illegal trade fattened the pockets of many mob bosses, but along with its legalisation in 1933 came a drop in price, panic and a switch to other dark gains in order for Mafiosi bigwigs, like Al Capone, to survive. 
 
In his book, Cocaine: an unauthorised biography’, author Dominic Streatfield asked the Ochoa brothers, former heads of the Medellin Cartel, what it would take to drive them out of business. They gave a one-word response: "legalise".
 
For Colombia's Nukak people - currently swept to the brink of extinction due to colonists taking their land for coca growing - regulation may come too late. But should it come, it would certainly make it easier for the government to regulate its production, decide where the coca fields would be and enforce trade contracts. 

"... with the War on Drugs reaching a death toll of 28,000 [5] in Mexico alone, perhaps world-wide discussion is needed."

People may well take some persuading on the idea of creating a fair trade in cocaine and, I'll be the first to admit, this idea may need a tweak or 20 to work. But with the War on Drugs reaching a death toll of 28,000 [5] in Mexico alone, perhaps world-wide discussion is needed.

Perhaps, if the Ochoa brothers are right and legalisation would kill the cartels, global regulation in the form of Fairtrade is worth a look? It's certainly something to think whilst sipping our Fairtrade lattes.
 
Words: Melanie Scagliarini
Photo: Flickr user il Bagatta (a.k.a. elkarmo) [6]
 
Disclaimer: This is an opinion piece written by Melanie Scagliarini and is not necessarily reflective of Christian Aid and Ctrl.Alt.Shift values.