User:Camden McCusker/sandbox

Peru[edit | edit source]

According to article 8 of the Constitution of Peru, the state is responsible for battling and punishing drug trafficking. Likewise, it regulates the use of intoxicants. Consumption of drugs is not penalized and possession is allowed for small quantities only. Production and distribution of drugs are illegal.

In 1993, Peru, along with Ecuador, signed the Andean Trade Preference Agreement with the United States, later replaced with the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act. Bolivia and Colombia had already signed the ATPA in 1991, and began enjoying its benefits in 1992. By agreeing to the terms of this Agreement, these countries worked in concert with the United States to fight drug trafficking and production at the source. The Act aimed to substitute the production of the coca plant with other agricultural products. In return for their efforts towards eradication of the coca plant, the countries were granted U.S. tariff exemptions on certain products, such as certain types of fruit. Peru ceased complying with the ATPA in 2012, and lost all tariff exemptions previously granted by the United States through the ATPA. By the end of 2012, Peru overtook Colombia as the world's largest cultivator of the coca plant.

Colombia[edit | edit source]

coca plant

Under President Ronald Reagan, the United States declared War on Drugs in the late 1980s; the Colombian drug lords were widely viewed as the root of the cocaine issue in America. In the 1990s, Colombia was home to the world's two largest drug cartels: the Cali cartel and the Medellín cartel. It became Colombia's priority, as well as the priority of the other countries in the Andean Region, to extinguish the cartels and drug trafficking from the region. In 1999, under President Andrés Pastrana, Colombia passed Plan Colombia. Plan Colombia funded the Andean Region's fight against the drug cartels and drug trafficking. With the implementation of Plan Colombia, the Colombian government aimed to destroy the coca crop. This prohibitionist regime has had controversial results, especially on human rights. Colombia has seen a significant decrease in coca cultivation. In 2001, there were 362,000 acres of coca crop in Colombia; by 2011, fewer than 130,000 acres remained. However, farmers who cultivated the coca crop for uses other than for the creation of cocaine, such as the traditional use of chewing coca leaves, became impoverished.

Since 1994, consumption of drugs has been decriminalized. However, possession and trafficking of drugs are still illegal. In 2014, Colombia further eased its prohibitionist stance on the coca crop by ceasing aerial fumigation of the coca crop and creating programs for addicts. President Juan Manuel Santos (2010-present), has called for the revision of Latin American drug policy, and is open to talks about legalization.

Bolivia[edit | edit source]

Like Colombia, the Bolivian government signed onto the ATPA in 1991 and called for the forced eradication of the coca plant in the 1990s and early 2000s. Until 2004, the government allowed each residential family to grow 1600m² of coca crop, enough to provide the family with a monthly minimum wage. In 2005, Bolivia saw another reformist movement. The leader of a coca grower group, Evo Morales, was elected President in 2005. Morales ended any U.S. backed War on Drugs. President Morales opposed the decriminalization of drugs but saw the coca crop as an important piece of indigenous history and a pillar of the community because of the traditional use of chewing coca leaves. In 2009, the Bolivian Constitution backed the legalization and industrialization of coca products.

Ecuador[edit | edit source]

Narco submarine seized in Ecuador

In the mid-1980s, under President León Febres-Cordero, Ecuador adopted the prohibitionist drug policy recommended by the United States. By cooperating with the United States, Ecuador received tariff exemptions from the United States. In February of 1990, the United States held the Cartagena Drug Summit, in the hopes of continuing progress on the War on Drugs. Three of the four countries in the Andean Region were invited to the Summit: Peru, Colombia and Bolivia, with the notable absence of Ecuador. Two of those three countries -- Colombia and Bolivia -- joined the Andean Trade Preference Act, later called the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act, in 1992. Ecuador, along with Peru, would eventually join the ATPA in 1993. The Act united the region in the War on Drugs as well as stimulated their economies with tariff exemptions.

In 1991, President Rodrigo Borja Cevallos passed Law 108, a law that decriminalized drug use, while continuing to prosecute drug possession. In reality, Law 108 set a trap that snared many citizens. Citizens confused the legality of use with the illegality of carrying drugs on their person. This lead to a large increase in prison populations, as 100% of drug crimes were processed. In 2007, 18,000 prisoners were kept in a prison built to hold up to 7,000.In urban regions of Ecuador as many as 45% of male inmates were serving time for drug charges; this prison demographic rises to 80% of female inmates. In 2008, under Ecuador's new Constitution, current prisoners serving time were allowed the "smuggler pardon" if they were prosecuted for purchasing or carrying up to 2kg of any drug, and they already served 10% of their sentence. Later, in 2009, Law 108 was replaced by the Organic Penal Code (COIP). The COIP contains many of the same rules and regulations as Law 108, but it established clear distinctions among large, medium and small drug traffickers, as well as between the mafia and rural growers, and prosecutes accordingly. In 2013, the Ecuadorian government left the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act.