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The
Impact of Drugs in Peru
Actions against planting
Interdiction
Interdiction is defined as
the identification and arrest activities of drug-trafficking
organizations, including individuals who provide chemical
inputs and raw materials for drug production.
The Peruvian State has obtained
significant advances in the fight against drug trafficking.
The National Police represented by the National Anti-Drug
Bureau (DINANDRO) has actively participated in dismantling
drug-trafficking organizations, arrested the most important
drug barons, seized chemical inputs for drug production,
and have control on drug transportation routes from the
production centers to the areas of consumption or transit
for export.
In compliance to the agreements
signed, the government of the United States has an important
role on interdiction operations, by providing financial,
logistic and technical support to the special squads of
the Policia Nacional who have achieved important successes
on drug and controlled chemical input seizures.
To this respect, those arrested
for activities related to drug issues are considered within
one of the 4 categories listed below: a) individuals involved
in drug processing; b) important drug barons and traders;
c) small traders who retail the drug; and d) individuals
involved in processed drug transportation.
In Peru drug abuse is not
penalized. Nevertheless, when a person is caught in possession
of drugs, he/she is arrested until it is proven that the
drug is for consumption or for traffic; that evaluation
is done taking into account the quantity of drug and his/her
history. That is the reason why on police reports the words
"arrested consumers" are mentioned.
Peru reported that in the
year 2001, 13,343 individuals were arrested; 2,485 faced
trial; and 216 were sentenced to prison for illicit drug
trafficking. According to the data provided by DINANDRO,
during the year 2002, 2,048 individuals were arrested for
illicit drug trafficking; 10,768 for drug abuse; and 432
juveniles. Even though the data is as of November 7th, 2003,
it shows that 1,797 individuals were arrested for illegal
drug trafficking; 8,490 for drug abuse, presumed retailers;
and 328 juveniles arrested for retail sale, drug abuse,
and against public order.
Eradication
In Peru, eradication is allowed
only manually, which is different from other countries where
eradication activities are focused on discovering and destroying
coca crops by means that can also be the use of chemicals
(use of pesticides) or physical (incineration). The national
strategy for the reduction of coca crops starts in the 80´s
with the creation of the Alto Huallaga Special Project (PEAH),
with the purpose of promoting alternative crops while at
the same time establishing a economic and social infrastructure.
The coca eradication specific
activities are in charge of CORAH. CADA, a division of CORAH,
measures and supervises the statistics for the Peruvian
Government and the alternative development projects, making
possible an efficient monitoring of the efficiency of anti-coca
production activities in the national territory.
Presently, the Alternative
Development Project promotes the voluntary eradication of
coca leaf among coca producers in exchange for program benefits.
Peru has institutions in
charge of control and interdiction, as well as the judiciary
and administrative bodies responsible to investigate, control
and eliminate illicit drug trafficking. The institutions
in charge of interdiction and control are the National Police
and the National Bureau Against Drug Trafficking (DINANDRO).
The Specialized Penal Prosecutor (Fiscalía Penal
Especializada) on drug trafficking crimes has the responsibility
in the administrative field, and the Penal Court of the
Supreme Court of Justice for drug trafficking crimes in
the judiciary field.
The National Intelligence
Service, through the Drug Trafficking Intelligence Bureau
exchanges operations information among the different national
authorities in charge. The Department of Criminal Intelligence
(DICI) of the International Organization Criminal Police
and the National Central Bureau of INTERPOL are in charge
of information exchange and coordination with other countries.
In the Peruvian case, the
control of supervised chemical inputs derived to drug trafficking
is in charge of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism, Integration
and International Trade (MITINCI). The Medicine, Input and
Drug's General Directorate of the Ministry of Health is
in charge of the supervision of pharmaceutical products.
Effects on Ecolology
Some forecasts show that
deforestation related to different aspects of coca crops
and the production and transformation of coca drugs could
have reached up to 900,000 hectares in all the country;
although it is necessary to have more serious research on
that respect, by showing the location of the affected areas
and by considering their possibility for recuperation.
As it has been seen, an important
area of the Peruvian territory has suffered the process
of deforestation in the last 25 years. The origins of said
serious problem can be blamed on Colombian organized crime
that promoted the burning of forests so that peasants could
plant more areas of coca leaf, disturbing virgin areas and,
in addition, the construction of clandestine airports, and
new urban developments.
The deforestation process
has been severe in less fertile or more unprotected areas,
in the weakest ecosystems on the low or high jungle, on
clay soils, and on those located on high slopes where there
is intense erosion due to natural drainage.
Soil preparation for coca
crops, usually means the removal of extensive areas of soil,
eliminating all other competitive plants; this added to
the process of defoliation, that during crops´ collection
exposes the soils to tropical showers, eliminates the existing
nutrients producing the impoverishment of the soils.
Another factor for deforestation
has been the use of agro-chemical products in order to produce
higher coca yields. The indiscriminate use of such products
(usually considered lethal) means death to all plants that
get in touch with it, and remains in the soils years after
spraying.
To this situation is added
the fact that many ideal plots for produce, rich in nutrients
and production capacity and located near river banks rich
in flora and fauna, were severely damaged by the pollution
of residual products from cocaine base paste production,
including kerosene, sulfuric acid, and others.
Such lands have been impoverished
due to pollution and were abandoned for other plots having
better conditions for coca production, which were abandoned
later when the soil was exhausted. Little by little, the
extension of untilled lands has increased, thus affecting
irremediably natural ecosystems.
It is clear that deforestation
has serious consequences on the environment, such as: loss
of soils due to erosion, the extinction of genetic resources,
changes on the hydrological system, reduction of the hydro
energetic and hydro biological potential, less wood and
timber, among other damages.
Damage produced by drug production
Coca transformation implies
the use of diverse chemical products. The approximate quantity
of inputs for PBC production are the following: for around
8.5 kilograms of fresh leaf 30 gallons of kerosene are needed
(on average, can be reused up to three times), 2 bags of
cement, 1 kilogram of Sulphuric acid and 4 kilograms of
sodium carbonate. For the production of washed paste, potassium
permanganate is usually used, in addition to kerosene and
Sulphuric acid.
The chemical inputs used for the production of drugs must
be disposed when they cannot be reused. The easiest way
for the disposition of those products is to throw them in
the nearest rivers in production areas, or simply dump them
to the soil and wait for the liquid components to evaporate.
The first way of disposal
produces severe pollution to the rivers, thus harming the
natural habitat of fauna and flora of rivers, with the risk
of intoxicating the populations eating fish. The second
way of waste disposal pollutes the soils by transforming
them into soils incapable of generating or having life for
a long period of time.
Due to the illicit nature
of drug processing, there has never been an effective control
of the final destiny of residual products in said process.
Thus, the real effects of said practices are difficult to
calculate, even more when it is an additional factor contributing
severely to the damage that drug production and trafficking
produces on the regions where it operates.
From this perspective, there
is a need for research on the ecological impact of tailings
and their relation to pollution levels on basins. Said analysis
not done in Perú, will show more clearly the interaction
between agrochemical products and flora and fauna pollution
processes in the affected regions.
Economic Impact
In general, it can be said
that coca and cocaine are the greatest sources of distortion
for economic development, especially on those areas having
effective crops. The highest profitability of coca, compared
to traditional or alternative products, is a factor that
reinforces the permanence of farmers in said activity, because
coca provides for their families economic needs. Precisely,
during the year 2002 in coca producing areas, legal products
or activities economy generated 54.3 million dollars, while
coca economy generated 59.8 million dollars (USAID, 2003).
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