U.S. ANTI-DRUG POLICIES IN SOUTH AMERICA

This research examines United States anti-drug policies, as those policies are applied to the countries of South America. Background information on the issue is provided in this introduc-tion. Following the introductory material, the actors with a stake in the issue are discussed, the effects of government anti-drug policies are reviewed, and a suggested solution to the issue is presented.

Americans who regularly consume illicit drugs number in the

millions (Flynn, 1993, p. 36). American demand for illicit drugs is the primary source of the international illicit drug problem. In spite of all the resources committed to the so-called drug war, the production of illicit drugs continues to increase, and the supply of illicit drugs available to American consumers continues to increase, in spite of governmental claims to the contrary (Flynn, 1993, p. 8). In the face of United States government policy to reduce the cultivation of illicit drugs in South America, the number of countries that grow, produce, and traffic in drugs has increased since the Cartagena drug summit (Gene, 1992, p. 16).

The Department of Defense in the United States is a

principal actor stakeholder in the nation's war on drugs in

relation to South America (Smolowe, 1990, p. 62). Through the war on drugs, the armed forces are being provided with a basis to continue to demand funds for equipment and personnel that would have oth

. . .
ry personnel in selected South American countries in order to better prepare the South American military organizations to operate against the drug cartels. Bolivia is one site of such military training. Of the Bolivian military personnel receiving the training, however, approximately 85 percent are one-year conscripts (Lane, et al, p. 22). Not only are these newly trained personnel going to be lost to the South American military organizations before they can have any effect in the anti-drug effort, many of the personnel will be hired by the drug cartels on their release from military service, and will be paid premium wages because of their newly acquired expertise provided by the United States military through the anti-drug effort (Lane et al, p. 22). South American military authorities in countries targeted by the American anti-drug effort are also major beneficiaries of the drug war (Conniff, 1992, p. 20). There is strong evidence that the military authorities in the target countries expend most of the American money they receive for anti-drug efforts to pursue their own political goals by attacking the political organizations opposing the military (Conniff, p. 24). Unfortunately, there is also strong evidence that United Sta
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Approximate Word count = 1929
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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