The U.S. White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) said on Thursday that Colombia’s potential production of cocaine decreased to 972 tonnes in 2021 from 994 tonnes the year before. The report also noted that the size of coca fields, the drug’s main constituent, decreased.
According to a statement from the ONDCP, coca cultivation occupied 234,000 hectares (578,227 acres) in 2018, down from 245,000 hectares in 2020.
According to a new study from the country’s truth commission, which was established as part of a 2016 peace deal with the now demobilized FARC guerrillas, drug trafficking and the war on drugs are primary causes of Colombia’s armed conflict.
Despite decades of anti-drug campaigns, Colombia is still one of the world’s leading manufacturers of cocaine. Security sources claim that former right-wing paramilitaries, criminal gangs, and left-wing rebels are all involved in the fabrication and transportation of weapons to buyers, who are primarily located in North America and Europe.
The ONDCP director, Rahul Gupta, stated in the statement that “the Biden-Harris administration is determined to continuing close cooperation with our allies in South America to confront our shared burden of drug manufacturing, trafficking, and use.”
In addition to addressing the core causes of participation in the illicit economies in coca-growing regions, such as poverty, insecurity, and a lack of access to services, the United States will push policies that increase care for substance use, according to Gupta.
According to the ONDPC, Peru’s coca-crop acreage decreased to 84,400 hectares in 2021 from 88,200 hectares the year before, and the country’s potential cocaine production decreased to 785 tonnes from 814 tonnes in 2020.
According to data provided by the ONDPC, prospective cocaine production and coca-crop area in Colombia and Peru both decreased compared to 2020 but both remained higher than before the coronavirus outbreak.
The potential production of cocaine in Bolivia increased marginally to 317 tonnes in 2021 from 312 tonnes the year before, while the area under coca plantation increased to 39,700 hectares from 39,400 hectares in 2020.
