This Is a Bust

THE drug war works, at least in Bolivia. Between 1995 and 2000, the amount of land in Bolivia with coca cultivated on it declined from almost 50,000 hectares to fewer than 20,000. In Peru, during the same period, land under cultivation for coca declined from 115,000 hectares to roughly 30,000. It was a nice winning streak for the American policy of coca eradication in the Andes, except for the minor matter of Colombia, where the coca crop doubled—keeping the level of production in the Andes approximately the same as it had been before those victories in Bolivia and Peru.

In the drug war, the victories never end, because they never last. Last year’s annual report from the Office of National Drug Control Policy noted progress in the Caribbean: A “decline in the cocaine trafficking in Jamaica, the Bahamas, and Cuba followed the execution of several joint interdiction operations in the area.” But wait: “There were . . . increases in overall drug trafficking in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico as well as smuggling through fishing vessels in the Eastern Pacific.” It’s a wonder that drug warriors make even this “one-step forward, one-step back” progress. The report notes, matter-of-factly: “Drugs coming to the United States from South America pass through a six million square-mile transit zone roughly the size of the continental United States.” Oh, is that all?

About the Author

Rich Lowry

Rich Lowry is the editor in chief of National Review.

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THE drug war works, at least in Bolivia. Between 1995 and 2000, the amount of land in Bolivia with coca cultivated on it declined from almost 50,000 hectares to fewer than 20,000. In Peru, during the same period, land under cultivation for coca declined from 115,000 hectares to roughly 30,000. It was a nice winning streak for the American policy of coca eradication in the Andes, except for the minor matter of Colombia, where the coca crop doubled—keeping the level of production in the Andes approximately the same as it had been before those victories in Bolivia and Peru.

In the drug war, the victories never end, because they never last. Last year’s annual report from the Office of National Drug Control Policy noted progress in the Caribbean: A “decline in the cocaine trafficking in Jamaica, the Bahamas, and Cuba followed the execution of several joint interdiction operations in the area.” But wait: “There were . . . increases in overall drug trafficking in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico as well as smuggling through fishing vessels in the Eastern Pacific.” It’s a wonder that drug warriors make even this “one-step forward, one-step back” progress. The report notes, matter-of-factly: “Drugs coming to the United States from South America pass through a six million square-mile transit zone roughly the size of the continental United States.” Oh, is that all?