The United Nations Drug Report and Peru

The release of the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime's 2007 drug report was largely heralded as a success in the worldwide 'war on drugs.' The report found that global markets for illicit drugs stabilized in 2005 and 2006 and the cultivation, production, and consumption of drugs such as cocaine, heroin, cannabis and amphetamines seem to have been brought under control.

One notable exception to this rosy outlook was Peru.

Coca grown and cocaine made in Peru continues to rise despite the multi-million dollar effort to stem the trend. The report found that the amount of coca leaf grown in Peru increased 8 percent in 2006 from 2005, while the area cultivated with coca grew 7 percent. That comes despite more than $300 million in U.S. anti-drug aid the country has received since 2000.

This isn't a new story, I wrote about this trend in 2005 for several major US newspapers. The numbers are a bit different this year but the trends the experts warned about then are clearly continuing unabated.

Find out more about Peru, South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

Technorati Tags: Peru, Colombia, coca, cocaine, drug trade, UNODC