Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Noriega: US friend and US prisoner

 
Noriega was previously a close US ally and a paid CIA informant despite known ties to drug trafficking. The Reagan administration began turning against him in the mid-1980s after Noriega became less cooperative in the US war on the Nicaraguan government and on US plans to retain effective control over the Panama Canal.
 Drug History breif:

 D r u g s   I n   P o l I c y
1)      What has led to increase in Drug Trafficking
a)      Demandà Supplyà Profitsà demand
i)        High risk, high profit (getting high)
(1)    Profit goes to distributors
(a)    Varies by Region
(i)      Drug Cartels
(ii)    Agriculture conditions
(b)   Varies by Drugs
(i)      Cocaine & Heroin
1.       Can produce in low quantities b/c price is so high
(ii)    Pot
1.       Must produce in Bulk to get high profits
b)      Politics
i)        Supportive role in politics
(1)    Profits used for political means
(a)    Government have involvement w/ funding
(i)      Corruption
1.       EX. Alfanzo Myelsin – Columbia
a.       $4 million In payoffs
ii)      Control role in potitics
(1)    Area to control drugs/ drug trafficking/ drug dealers/ drug producers
(a)    “war on drugs”
(i)      Regan
(b)   This idea stems from the Us
(i)      Local economyà people benefit from “drugs” they don’t seem many as drugs
1.       Boosts local economy
2)     

Intro to Coca
a)      Grows
i)        in Eastern/southern part of Latin America
ii)       Particularly on Easter slopes of the Andes
b)      Chewing Coca
i)        Treats symptoms of altitude sickness
ii)       Chew with lime and stone
iii)     15 alkaloids in coca
(1)    Cocaine is only 1 of 15
iv)      appetite reducers
(1)    Benefits poor class’s symptoms
v)      Breaks down a fibers
vi)     Breaks down complex carbs
(1)    Allowing for the body to use more complex sugars
(a)    Releasing sugars into the body
(b)   This is important considering the diet in the region is heavily based on carbs
(i)      Chewing coca allows for a better diets in a region that is in need of dietary increases—nutrition.
c)       Coca is highly traditional/ritualized
i)        They don’t see coca as a drug
(1)    But as part of their diet
(a)    Medicine
(b)   Culture
(2)    The normative understanding of coca’s effects is not so when you chew it
(a)    Way different effects
(3)    Majority do not use coca as a drug—in the way the U.S does and understands it.
3)      Politics- Coca
a)      Bolivia- President
i)        Wants to safe coca as part of culture and profitability
(1)    Indigenous cultures
(2)    Politics defends rights to grow, use and sell
b)      Production into cocaine-drug
i)        Leaves are mashed
(1)    Acids used to extract the cocaine alkaloid from leaf mashà step by step process  uses chemicals to purify and extract cocaine
ii)       Cartel control not the growing but the processing/manufacturing of the plan
(1)    This is where the profit is and is held
(a)    Cartel due to profit
(i)      Demand more plants be ground (demand à)
1.       Production expands
a.       Upper Peru
b.      Lower Columbia
(ii)    Guerillas take up expansive planting  increase operations
1.       To fund political agendas
a.       FARC in Columbia
b.      PERU- ?
4)      Control- How does control work?
a)      United States
i)        Peruses governments to stop coca production
(1)    Aim at supply side
(a)    They do this vis-à-vis loan debt
(i)      Incentives
(2)    Pull up plants strategy?
(a)    Can’t there will be a retaliation from guerilla forces—collective “no”
(i)      Attack on farmers
(3)    Militarize area
(a)    Fight guerillas
(i)      Arm governments to fight drug carets/producers
(4)    But what do we do with farmers who depend on coca growing (and have for years)?
(a)    Give them new crop.
(i)      Corn for coca…no
1.       “I do not know much about capitalism but I don’t think that corn is an s profitable as Coca.
(ii)   Coffee
1.       “but normal methods of coffee production benefit the middle man, manufacturer,  for he makes all the profit and the producer/cultivator gets short-change (literally)”
a.       Fair-trade coffee
i.         Developed by United states Government to alleviate coca growers
ii.       Give farmers “fair” price pay them what they should earn, had there been ethics in business.
iii.      Replace coca with coffee=- Peru
5)      Border Control
a)      Tighten incoming drug traffic to US
i)       

Only works with Pot due to its bulk imports
ii)       Cocaine and Heroin
(1)    “there many ways to smuggle coke”
6)      How can you tell if drugs “war” is working?
a)      Measure economic activity
i)        Price of the produce
(1)    Price down= not working
(2)    Price up= working
(a)    Price reflects Supply amount
7)      Fair trade not working…?
a)      Agent orange
i)        If we go in we get risk guerillas
ii)       Pesticide that can be sprayed from the “safety” of a helicopter or plane.
b)      Drawback
i)        Kills guerrillas
ii)       Kills farmers (merely growing no part of cartel)
iii)    

Kills family, especially kids
iv)     Kills crops that surround coca
(1)    Less food
8)      1980-90s
a)      Polarized exchange process
i)        12 federal banks
(1)    Greatest surplus of bank:
(a)    Miami
(i)      Flights over Caribbean
(ii)    Drug dealers have to launder illegal moneyà legal money
9)      So what has been the major driver of Drug trafficking?
a)      Supplyà farmers?
b)      Demandà consumers?
i)        Undeniably demand
(1)    If there are not people asking for the product, willing to pay for it
(a)    There would be no one selling/growing/producing the product
10)   What have the policy initiatives by the US been motivated by?
a)      Supply side
i)        At the farmers and their families
(1)    Cartel indirectly.
b)      Demand side?
i)        D.A.R.E
ii)       “Just Say no”
(1)    Thank you….Nancy Regan.
11)   What if
a)      What if the united states went after those that put drug use on a pedestal
i)        Those that give drugs its foundational acceptance and justification in mass social cultures
(1)    What if the US government sought to deglamorize drugs
(a)    Go after Rock Musicians, Actors, Hollywood, clubs, Politicians, Judges, CEOs ect…
(i)      Gave harsh penalties and set an example at the demand side of things
1.       Put those that use drugs in jail
a.       Especially those in places that lend legitimacy to the consumptions and life style
b.      Not the famers who make it.
(ii)    They go after the colored people…though.
ii)       The US did not do this
(1)    Why….
(a)    We don’t ever blame the elites
(b)   Moral deficit is in the underclass and must be controlled/stopped
(i)      They pollute the American culture
1.       Not the other way around.
12)   Why does the Us use so much drugs
a)      Compared to everyone else we use so much!
i)        1990s study suggests that
(1)    20% of Americans are addicted to some form of opiate drugs
(a)    Prescription
(i)      Mainly woman…?



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