colombiaweek.org
Spray Planes Grounded

Here's some good news for a change on Plan Colombia. The government has dropped its plans to fumigate cocaine crops in the country's national parks.

"There won't be any spraying in the parks until other alternatives are examined, such as manual eradication," said Environment Minister Sandra Suarez.

Colombia's spectacular national parks, which cover 25 million acres of jungle and mountainside, harbor some of the most diverse populations of plant, bird, and animal species in the world. They also reportedly harbor guerrillas and coca plants.

Environmentalists criticized Plan Colombia from the start, saying its herbicides damage the environment and harm peasants.

The government has dismissed those claims and said drug producers destroy jungle to plant coca and poison water with chemicals used to refine cocaine.

The government's claim is absurd of course. While clear cutting and chemical contamination does occur in the processing of coca paste, it does not approach the ecological damage being done by the widescale aerial spraying of herbicide.

Eradication is a problem, not a solution. The answer as always, is to legalize the plant for it's agricultural uses and legalize the drug to destroy the need for clandestine jungle labs.

Think about it. If it were being manufactured under industry regulations, it would eliminate the need for a black market, the chemicals would be disposed of safely and the addicts could be clinically treated instead of caged.

[Link thanks to Preston Peet]