Why a world economy that gives us cheap coffee also gives us cocaine. The rapid decline in raw commodity prices and accumulation of foreign debt in developing countries in the 1980s lies behind the escalating illicit drug production and trafficking activities in some of those countries. Examples are given of the economic pressures behind coca cultivation in Latin America and heroin production in Asia. The conclusion is that global economic reform is essential to the elimination of illicit trafficking.

Illicit drugs and the world economy (PDF)

Additional keywords: cocaine economy / heroin economy / plant cultivation / crop substitution / cocoa plantations