ALTERNATIVE DEVELOPMENT:
COLOMBIA

The phenomenon of illicit activities began to grow rapidly in Colombia during the 1970s due to the increase of marijuana consumption in the United States and Europe. The repression of drug trafficking and production in Mexico in 1975 also contributed to the external factors that encouraged increased production in Colombia. That, together, with some internal factors like the geographic location, the agro-ecological characteristics and the weakness of the justice system propelled the rise of illicit activity in Colombia. At the end of the decade, Colombia produced close to 20,000 tons of marijuana annually, which constituted 60% of the demand in the United States.

Due to the consolidation of new producing zones and changes in consumers’ habits, a fall in international prices of the product undercut the activity. In the early 1980s, the capital generated from this activity shifted towards a new product, cocaine. Colombia entered the market solely to satisfy the incredible growth in demand for cocaine in the United States. Cocaine, as an agro-industrial product, began to increase in price per unit of volume. At the same time, poppy, another illicit product, was introduced in the south of Tolima in 1984.

During this period, drug trafficking intensified and initiated the establishment of links to important sectors of politics, the economy and civil society. The mustering of the first paramilitary groups in Colombia began to occur, as well as the consolidation of the Cali and Medellín cartels, which intensified the violence and terrorism. In the 1990s, coca and poppy crops expanded further. The last number of hectares registered was in 1992, with an area of 20,000 hectares, mainly in the region of the Macizo Colombiano, transforming Colombia into the main producer of poppy in Latin America.

During this time, the Colombian Government started to apply an anti-narcotic policy that was characterized by the application of two parallel instruments: alternative development projects, which would be developed by state-level programs, and interdiction, which aimed to control drug trafficking, precursor chemicals and the physical eradication of the crops. Therefore, the fumigation of poppy crops in the Andean zone and of coca crops in the Guaviare began. Combined with the effect of the climatologic phenomenon of el Niño, this tactic contributed to a considerable decrease of poppy crops and the beginning of the displacement of the coca crops in several regions, including Putumayo, which had a large concentration. At the same time, the National Plan of Alternative Development was also created  and oriented to offer alternative economic development for small-scale growers of coca and poppy.

The 1990s ended with a renewed trend to grow illicit crops once again, demonstrated by the development of the crop in multiple regions of the country; the disappearance of the vertical integration structure of the cartels; their transformation into small organizations; and the transferring of control of the crops over to the guerrillas and the paramilitary. These aspects were accompanied by a new outbreak of conflict among armed civilians, guerrillas, the paramilitary and the Government. The deepening controversy of efficiency and pertinence of fumigation and the number of cultivated and eradicated hectares also contributed to the ongoing drug problems of the country. At the same time, the attention of the international community focused on this phenomenon in Colombia and gave their support to this country, in which their positive political and economic solutions stood out.

During the last 30 years, Colombia has fought a hard battle against the problem of illicit drugs, fundamentally applying legal and military tools for the resolution of the associated conflict concerning economy. Nevertheless, the new outbreak of the armed conflict in Colombia that is related to the expansion of illicit crops has produced elevated social, economic and environmental costs. Among them, the loss of numerous human lives, institutional deterioration, forced displacement, loss of social capital, destruction of physical infrastructure, and the deterioration of confidence, biological diversity and natural resources.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the National Plan of Rehabilitation (PNR) supported initial efforts of alternative development. The program plans centered on farming production in the areas in which illicit crops were being developed, using a strategy of crop substitution, complemented by the creation of producer organizations and the financing of small projects in infrastructure, health and education. In 1995, the National Plan of Alternative Development (PLANTE) was created to establish unavoidable eradication in a complementary way. The Plan had an intervention model in the municipal court that was oriented to solve the effects of the drug trafficking phenomenon.

Under the Government of Andrés Pastrana, the "Colombia Plan" was established as a strategy of the National Government for peace, prosperity and institutional fortification. Through the plan, an ambitious strategy of project investment will rapidly and effectively generated benefits for Colombians. It also seeks to recover the confidence of Colombians by rescuing the basic norms of social coexistence through the promotion of democracy, justice, territorial integrity, the creation of better employment conditions, the respect of human rights and the conservation of public order, among others.

As a component of the Second Phase of the Colombia Plan, the Administration of President Alvaro Uribe released the National Plan of Alternative Development (PDA) 2003- 2006, which is focused on the empowerment of the State in the producing zones by means of an approach of regional development oriented to promote legal employment options and income to the communities that commit themselves to maintain illicit free zones that had been subjected to previous eradication. The plan has a goal to consolidate the process of eradication of illicit crops and to prevent its expansion through a commitment of not planting or replanting illicit crops from the participating communities. The importance of the communities and their organizations and an emphasis on the human factor as a critical link in the narcotic production circuit also stand out.

Responding to the increasing national and international scrutiny of the environmental and sanitary effects of the Eradication of Illicit Crops Program by means of the aerial spraying of gliphosate herbicide, CICAD is conducting the project: Study on the Effects of the of Eradication of Illicit Cultures Program, by means of the aerial aspersion with gliphosate herbicide and of Illicit Crops on Human Health and the Environment. The document has received some comments and our scientific team has respond. Also, a comparative hazard assessment approach was used to evaluate the relative hazard posed by the substances used in the production of cocaine and heroine in Colombia. A total of 67 substances used in significant quantities for this purpose were reviewed in a Tier-1 assessment (CICAD/OAS 2004). Of these, 20 were selected for a more detailed assessment of toxicological properties and their impact on the environment: The Toxicology of Substances Used in the Production and Refining of Cocaine and Heroin: A Tier Two Hazard Assessment.  

There are several issues that have been identified with respect to the production and eradication of coca in Colombia that require further investigation and understanding.