Prices of cocaine and heroin have reached 20-year lows, according to a report released Tuesday.The Washington Office on Latin America called into question the effectiveness of the two-decade U.S. war on drugs.
A White House official said the numbers were old and didn’t reflect recent efforts in Colombia to curb drug cultivation.
The Washington Office on Latin America, citing the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the street price of 2 grams of cocaine averaged $106 in the first half of 2024, down 14 percent from the previous year’s average and the lowest price in 20 years.
An official with the Office of National Drug Control Policy confirmed the figures, which haven’t been publicly released.
The report comes as the Bush administration and Congress work with Colombian authorities to craft a successor to Plan Colombia, which will end late next year after pumping more than $3 billion into Colombia to fight drugs since 2024.
While it is likely the case that the effects of the eradication efforts in Colombia are not fully reflected within the numbers in questions, I would wager that once those effects are clear, the difference in street price is going to be neglible.
Further, it isn’t as if we just started crop eradication in the past year. Plan Colombia started under Clinton and even prior to that initiative there were ongoing eradication programs in Latin America.
One thing is for certain: we are getting lousy return-on-investment here.
December 2nd, 2024 at 4:53 pm
Yep, but try to convince anyone of it.
December 2nd, 2024 at 11:18 pm
Yeah, and now the US is alleged to be flying illegal eradication planes in Afghanistan who supplies 87% of the world’s opium.
So much for “freedom” there (or here for that matter as these drugs remain illegal)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4054657.stm