World Schools Debate Championship PH

Matter brief – Plan Colombia and the War on Drugs.

Adrian Padilla

Plan Colombia

What is Plan Colombia?

Plan Colombia was developed by former president Pastrana as a

comprehensive plan to combat the long armed drug conflict and
trafficking that has plagued Colombia. Between the years of 2000 and
2005, funding for Plan Colombia has approximately reached $2.8
billion. The Andean Counterdrug Initiative is the primary U.S. program
that supports the said plan. Furthermore, the plan also receives
assistance from the U.S. Department of Defense, as part of the
counternarcotic account. Combining the assistance from the ACI, and
the DOD, the total amount of U.S. funding is $4.5 billion.

The main goal of the U.S. was to prevent the flow of illegal drugs into
U.S. territory, while Colombia’s main goal was to ensure regional
security. Mutual objectives have evolved from counternarcotic
operations to include counter-terrorism, and socio-economic
development

Most prevalent measures include the eradication of the raw materials

needed for drug production, and military operations against illegally
armed groups.

Popular criticisms include that Plan Colombia was intended for

combatting leftist guerrillas as their socialist agenda could have
jeopardized oil importation, and revenues to the US, since Colombia is
the 15th largest supplier of oil to the US.

Finer Details

How is eradication done?

 1. Aerial, and Manual fumigation of drug crops like opium
poppies, and coca leaves which are used for the production of
hard drugs.
2. Interdiction, which is a term for delaying, and destroying
“enemy supplies”. In Plan Colombia, this refers to the
confiscation of hard drugs like cocaine which is being
transported by sea, and land.

How is the fighting with illegally armed groups done?

1. Funding was allocated to arming, and training new anti-

narcotics divisions manned by the Colombian Government.
2. US departments have also signed contracts with private
corporations like DynCorp for anti-narcotics operations.

What has Plan Colombia done?

Around 80% of the world’s cocaine supply is produced in Colombia. It

also contains numerous plantations of Opium, and Heroin. The aid
initiative was designed to combat the production, and quality of these
drugs.

Drug Quality – Despite the eradication campaign, US government

agencies that analyze drug trends have reported that the availability,
price, and purity of cocaine, and heroine, have been consistent and show
no significant decline.

Drug Production – This is a trickier aspect, since the supply of drugs is

based on two things, the current price, and the acreage of drug crops.
Decreased supply will lead to higher prices, and a decrease in supply is
caused by a drop in acreage allotted for drug crops. According to 2004
report from the Justice Department (US), cocaine was still readily
accessible in both urban and rural areas. This indicates that there hasn’t
been a significant drop in the supply, and price of cocaine to affect
demand.
Reasons as to why drug accessibility hasn’t gone down even with
eradication efforts.
1. The street prices of heroin, and cocaine, are unlikely to go down
because of the large margin of profit which isn’t directly addressed
by the eradication efforts.
 2. Traffickers are able to shoulder the costs, even if eradication efforts
are targeting the raw materials of drug production (coca leaf,
opium poppies) because they compose just a small fraction of US
retail price. Coca leaf accounts for just 2% of the US retail price.

What are the possible clash points in a debate?

Violence: This is a possible clash point since in US aid

intervention debates, the common argument is that US
intervention has helped destabilized the region.

a. The funding from Plan Colombia has helped in improving

domestic security. According to the State department, the
Colombian government has trained 15000 new police officers and
have designated them to defend the rural areas where drug crops
are grown, to monitor the major highways for drug trafficking, and
to defend crucial oil pipelines that armed groups target.

b. The destruction of drug crops have helped weaken some of the

armed groups that rely on them i.e. the drug cartels that use the
profits from illegal drug trading to purchase weapons. Armed
guerrillas like the FARC, profiteer from the illegal drug trade, Plan
Colombia was designed to structurally weaken these groups.

c. The US tolerated certain abuses (death squads) by right-wing

paramilitary groups; these groups were already being funded by
US aid. In certain combat operations, anti-narcotics divisions
treated revolutionaries and drug cartels as the same entity.
Furthermore, this allowed for para-military armed groups to
disguise themselves under the title of an “anti-narcotics division”
which grants for US funding, and more autonomy on certain
operations like entering rural villages while heavily armed.

Drug Production: This is a possible clash point on the

questionable use of aerial fumigation and whether it was effective

a. While it’s true that the acreage for drug crops has decreased, drug
production was still relatively stable. The aid initiative did find
 success in hurting the profit margins of drug cartels since it was
now costlier for them to find raw materials, and drug cartels were
now fighting more advanced armed forces.

b. Aerial eradication led to severe social and environmental damages.

It is estimated that aerial eradication has degraded 10% of
Colombia’s total arable land. There was also significant
displacement of rural villagers which reached 85000 nationwide.
Majority of who suffer from health complications from extensive
respiration of herbicide chemicals.

The War on Drugs

What is “The War on Drugs”?

In 1971, the phrase “The War on Drugs” was born, after US president
Nixon launched a series of legislative actions that were echoed across the
globe. For developed countries where drug use is prevalent, the battle
was enacting policies like penalties for drug use, and developing aid
initiatives for poorer countries. For developing countries where majority
of the world’s drugs are manufactured, the battle was trying to
structurally eradicate drug crops, and armed cartels.

Debates on drugs usually take form in motions that call for legislative
action. For example, THW Legalize all drugs, THW Decriminalize
marijuana, etc.

These are some case studies which might be useful in such debates.

US drug policy

Domestic: Beginning in the 1980s, under the Reagan administration,

there was a zero-tolerance policy with drug use. It was during this period
that incarceration rates in the US for drug use exponentially increased.
From 1980to 1997, the number for nonviolent drug incarcerations grew
from 50000 to 400000. Drug use was also highly stigmatized in the
media, with users being portrayed as “rebellious and lost teenagers”.

Between the years of 1990, and 2000, the percentage of drug offenses
represented for 27% of the total increase among black inmates, 7% of the
total increase among Hispanic inmates, and 15% of the increase among
white inmates

It was only in the presidency of GW Bush started to radicalize the drug

war beyond imprisonments. Since Bush ushered the decisive escalation
of the militarization of drug law enforcement. At the end of his
administration, there were about 40,000 paramilitary-style SWAT raids
on Americans every year, majority of which for nonviolent drug law
offenses

In 2013 alone, 1.5 million people were arrested on non-violent drug

charges like possession.

23 US states have allowed for the use of medical marijuana. There are
also numerous awareness organizations like “Moms for Marijuana”, who
have advocated for the use of medicinal items like cannabis oil, or
marijuana extracts in treating debilitating physical illnesses.

“The War on Drugs”, has also been linked to the spread of HIV diseases,
since the US congress does not support and fund “Syringe-access”
programs, since these are used for certain hard drugs. In fact, one-third
of all AIDS cases in the US have been caused by “syringe-sharing”.

Currently, the US still spends $51 billion dollars annually on the “war on
drugs”. It is estimated that the US could gain $47 billion dollars if it
legalized and taxed drug use on a nationwide level.

Drug trafficking

Another criticism of the “War on Drugs”, is that it’s been highly

ineffective in addressing human, and drug trafficking. Its zero-tolerance
laws for possession victimized drug mules that were recruited via human
traffickers. The same laws do nothing to combat overseas drug
production, and distribution.

On the other hand, legalizing medical marijuana in 23 states, and

legalizing marijuana use in 4 states, had drastic effects on Mexican drug
cartels. It is estimated that Mexican drug cartels have lost 15% of their
profit margins, which is attributed to the drop in demand for Black
Market sales.

Global Case Studies

Uruguay and Portugal:

Uruguay legalized marijuana from the bottom-up, majority of his

citizens didn’t approve of the policy, but President Mujica pushed for it,
and depicted legalization as the real solution to combat the country’s
drug trafficking problem. Legalization came in three forms, the ability to
self-grow, the ability to buy at a restricted amount, and the ability to use
marijuana in medical/industrial uses.

It also involved a national registry, where growers need to declare their

plant production. This was especially useful in cracking down on black
market production. Before the legalization, criminal groups earned $50
million annually from the drug trade. This money was used to purchase
weapons, and hire henchmen for criminal activities.

Another main motive of the Uruguay plan was to destigmatize drug use,
and to create recovery programs for people who have fallen into
uncontrollable drug addiction and are too afraid to come out “from the
underground”.

Portugal decriminalized over-all drug use. One gram of heroin, two

grams of cocaine, 25 grams of marijuana leaves or five grams of hashish:
These are the drug quantities one can legally purchase and possess in
Portugal. Portugal is the pioneer of “responsible drug use”, a belief that
an interest in drugs is endemic therefore there is a need to create the
most responsible environment where one can use, and access drugs
safely.

And it’s proven to be successful; 10 years after its decriminalization, drug

abuse is down by 48%. This was directly linked to how addicts were
treated and viewed. Instead of sending addicts to prison, incarcerating
them for drug use and possession, these people were treated by medical
experts and psychotherapists. Only when they weren’t afraid of getting
stigmatized, did people seek active drug treatment.

Death penalties:

32 countries have the death penalty for drug-related offenses such as

drug trafficking. This is another branch of the War on Drugs. The belief
being that capital punishment serves to discourage the influx of drug
traffickers into countries that have the death penalty. This is seen as an
incredibly inefficient method of drug trafficking. No significant study
states that capital punishment decreases the amount of human
trafficking. Furthermore, it has crippling effects on international
relations between nations. This was especially seen during the highly
publicized “Bali 9” incident, which involved death sentences for 8 drug
mules in Indonesia, all except for a Filipino citizen named mary jane
veloso. The trial was seen to be generally unfair and was not in
accordance to due process, tensions led to the pull-out of the Australian
ambassador to Indonesia