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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| The Coke Coast: Cocaine and Failed States in Africa |
| 2008-10-09 |
| Stepped up U.S. drug enforcement and interdiction in Latin America, coupled with a falling dollar and a surging demand for cocaine on the streets of Europe, is leading to political and economic chaos across West Africa, where international narco-traffickers have established their most recent, and lucrative, staging grounds. In fact, the drug trade is fast turning large parts of the region into areas that are all but ungovernable -- with major implications for international security. "The former Gold Coast is turning into the Coke Coast," said a 2008 report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). "The problem is so severe that it is threatening to bring about the collapse of some West African states where weak and corrupt governments are vulnerable to the corrosive influence of drug money." Though hardly alone in West Africa, Guinea-Bissau, the world's fifth poorest country, with a population of 1.5 million, has for all intents and purposes become the textbook example of the African "narco-state." Due to its relative proximity to South America, its hundreds of miles of unpatrolled coastline, islands and islets, along with the fact that Portuguese is its lingua franca, Guinea-Bissau has been increasingly targeted by South American drug lords as a preferred traffic hub for European-bound cocaine, according to the UNODC. What's more, as citizens of a former Portuguese colony, Guineans do not need visas to enter that EU country, further facilitating the movement of drugs. Authorities there can do precious little about it. "Guinea-Bissau has lost control of its territory and cannot administer justice," declared Antonio Maria Costa, the UNODC executive director, in a statement before the U.N. Security Council in December. "There is a permeability of judicial systems and a corruptibility of institutions in West Africa," he added. "Guinea-Bissau is under siege. Literally under siege." Part of the problem, as Costa explained, is that the value of the drug trade entering the country, where about 6 grams of cocaine is roughly equal to the average annual salary, is far higher than its entire national income. One drug bust last year in Guinea-Bissau -- 600 kilograms of cocaine found in the boot of a car -- had a street value equivalent to approximately 10 percent of the country's entire GDP of $340 million. Another raid netted 635 kg of cocaine, although the smugglers were believed to have escaped with more than two tons. But Guinea-Bissau enjoys plenty of company among its neighbors: To varying degrees, Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria, Cape Verde, Guinea-Conakry, Togo, Benin, Senegal, South Africa, and other West African and sub-Saharan states (including already-challenged states like Sierra Leone, the Ivory Coast and Liberia) are all beginning to feel the long reach of cocaine smuggling. Though cocaine has been smuggled through West Africa for most of the last decade, the trade has increased sharply in recent years, says Yahia Affinih, a sociologist and professor of African American studies at John Jay College in New York. The two main reasons, says Affinih, are that "unemployment is very high, and law enforcement is weak." |
| Posted by:3dc |
| #18 1913 Senate Republican (R): 44 Democratic (D): 51 (majority) Progressive (P): 1 TOTAL members: 96 House of Representatives Republican (R): 134 Democratic (D): 291 (majority) Progressive (P): 9 Independent (I): 1 TOTAL members: 435 |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-10-09 21:22 |
| #17 It hasn't been this way forever. The drug laws date to 1913, the same year as the Federal Reserve, the direct election of Senators, the reintroduction of segregation to Washington DC and the federal government and the income tax. One of the blackest years in US history. But Woodrow Wilson was a great President. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-10-09 14:51 |
| #16 The drug war, not 'the drug'. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-10-09 14:28 |
| #15 Drugs seem to be freely available now. There are addicts now, they steal and murder and cause untold problems now. I don't see how castrating the drug cartels would make it any worse. I don't thing you'd see a big difference in drug use or abuse or addiction. It's so accessible now that anyone who wants it can get their hands on it. The drug was is a huge failure and a total black hole for money. The govt. refuses to see the futility of throwing more money at it, and people with a moral beef with drugs will never agree to legalization, so I guess it will just go on like it always has. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-10-09 14:26 |
| #14 Amen NS. |
| Posted by: Beavis 2008-10-09 13:33 |
| #13 they will inevitably get into the hands of children who won't know any better. Do you really think they haven't already? With the profit potential of selling to disaffected adolescents, they are a major hub of drug dealing as well as usage. "Take the lid off" and the obscene profit potential disappears. And I'd doubt the number of drug users increases by 1%. The people who are vulnerable are already being "served". What's up for debate is the price they and we pay. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-10-09 13:26 |
| #12 And if you've ever met a full on paranoid meth freak driving down the freeway you'll understand that meth in particular needs to be suppressed. Those guys become very aggressive and very dangerous very quickly. One thing I've said here before and I'll say again: Legalizing drugs for adults is bad enough but they will inevitably get into the hands of children who won't know any better. These kids will be particularly susceptible to addiction and the other effects of the toxins. Think about it: How are you gonna stop a junkie from selling the stuff to kids? You can talk tough all you want about how you'd shoot 'em or hang 'em or whatever but the fact is you can't stop 'em and one of those kids might be your own. It happens often enough now even with the lid on but if you take the lid off you'll have a real mess on your hands. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2008-10-09 13:11 |
| #11 i'm sure there where drugs in jails before this "regime" came too power. |
| Posted by: sinse 2008-10-09 13:07 |
| #10 I've had some experience treating drug addicts. I worked on such a unit while in training. Addiction isn't something I'd wish on anyone. You may have the 'right' to addict yourself to blow, but it's everyone around you who pays for it. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2008-10-09 12:51 |
| #9 If it were legalized, the price would come down so the junkies don't have to steal (as much) to support their habit. And the killings would go down because their wouldn't be turf wars. The war on drugs has been a disaster in every respect. If the current regime can't keep drugs out of jails, why do we expect it to keep them out of schools? |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-10-09 11:54 |
| #8 Not to mention traffic accidents and damage to the unborn children. |
| Posted by: JFM 2008-10-09 11:54 |
| #7 The folks that want to legalize drugs apparently haven't had to deal with the consequences. If the druggies would just burn out their brains and die I wouldn't mind but they screw up (steal, rob, vandalize, kill) too many other innocents on their way to the grave. May your legalized druggie live next door so YOU get the fun experience. |
| Posted by: Lionel Jiger8451 2008-10-09 11:25 |
| #6 They are blowing away billions now and the price of coke is lower than it has ever been, and the purity is higher than ever at the street level. At least that's what I read. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-10-09 11:16 |
| #5 I more or less agree with bigjim-ky, legalize a whole slew of drugs and dump a fraction of the money into treatment for those stupid enough to get addicted. The government is not responsible for keeping people from the pursuit of happiness or from becoming losers. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2008-10-09 11:06 |
| #4 Just legalize the shit and be done with it. If you want to blow your brains out on it you are free to do so now anyway. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-10-09 09:55 |
| #3 As if we needed yet another reason to steer clear of African involvements. While there are many, this is one of the concerns I have for an Obama administration. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-10-09 08:13 |
| #2 I would kind of expect the European market in coke to crater sometime soon. It's more of a Western post-Christian sort of drug. The postmodern Islamist's drugs of choice seem to be heroin, horse tranquilizers and 'orrible new-fangled chemical concoctions. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2008-10-09 07:45 |
| #1 6 grams of cocaine is roughly equal to the average annual salary, is far higher than its entire national income. One drug bust last year in Guinea-Bissau -- 600 kilograms of cocaine found in the boot of a car -- had a street value equivalent to approximately 10 percent of the country's entire GDP of $340 million. Remove the costs incurred by prohibition and it would be a fraction of that, and thus a less serious threat to the region. The euryuppies are going to get their hands on blow either way. |
| Posted by: Cherelet and Tenille1095 2008-10-09 02:46 |