Abstract War on Drugs Colombia

WOD

The war on drugs is politically charged, and intimately connected with the failure of American imperialism to fizzle out and fade away. As Lazare points out, "the anti-drug crusade has emerged as a holy crusade in its own right," (14). The War on Drugs has become woven into the fabric of American identity along with catchall phrases like liberty, freedom, and justice for all. Common sense has been incinerated faster than a DEA bust disposes of bushels of cocaine. It would all be funny if it weren't costing so many lives, in multiple countries. This research places the War on Drugs within a social, cultural, historical, and economic context; and based on an a review of literature, makes recommendations for change.

Methods include a review of literature and subsequent analysis and synthesis of concepts, facts, and ideas. Three central and several ancillary sources were used to conduct the literature review. These sources included one new book and several journal articles. In Cocaine, Death Squads, and the War on Terror, Villar and Cottle offer fresh insight into the War on Drugs as it is waged on the South American and crystal triangle front. Written post September 11, and in the era of the War on Terror, the authors question the connection between the Drug War and the War on Terror. The rhetoric is similar, as are the central political ideals, motives and ideology. To understand the current and future trends in the war on drugs, it is imperative to grasp its context within post-colonial political and economic constructs. This premise provides the framework for future research.

A review of literature methodology revealed that Colombia is the heart and hub of the crystal triangle, the next generation golden triangle. The lessons America failed to learn in Vietnam are playing themselves out in the Andes, where farmers and middlemen are engaged in a complex and sophisticated black market network. The network threatens to undermine the development of strong social, economic, and political institutions in Colombia and other South American countries in the crystal triangle. As Sharpe and Spencer point out, the Colombian government depends on American funding for the War on Drugs to fuel its own military and counterinsurgency efforts, rather than building their institutions in ways that would preclude the need for a War on Drugs. American funding for the War on Drugs has a domino effect in the region and actively stifles healthy economic growth. The black market economy is healthy and strong; American efforts to stymie that economy are pitiful and paltry in comparison. The War on Drugs perpetuates the black market by fueling the trade itself, fomenting its growth, and failing to address core objectives. It has degenerated into a situation in which there are no longer legitimate means, or ends, to the problem. Therefore, as a result of the review of literature, I learned that a racial revision of the War on Drugs is warranted.