A War to be Won in the West

Abstract

Despite the flow of Western money into the countries producing cocaine, heroin and cannabis, little benefit goes to the people as a whole or to their governments. Bolivia may be an exception but the price has been a long history of corruption at the top levels of government. Colombia has the highest kidnap rate in the world and 30,000 violent deaths each year. Afghanistan’s warring tribes are financed by opium and so is Khun Sa in Myanmar. Though at least $2.5 billion in drug money comes into Peru per year from cocaine sales, only one-tenth of this goes to the campesinos who produce the cocaine paste; the other 90 per cent is swallowed up in corruption and has financed one of the most vicious terrorist movements in history.