El 'Cagocidio' de la coca en Colombia

Written by El Páis Friday, 05 June 2009 00:00

Una campaña denuncia los daños medioambientales de los cultivos ilícitos

"Las drogas son tan malas para ti como para la biodiversidad del planeta". Es uno de los mensajes acompañados de imágenes impactantes con los que el Gobierno colombiano intenta concienciar a los consumidores de cocaína de los arrasadores efectos de los cultivos ilícitos de coca en el medio ambiente, dentro de su campaña Responsabilidad Compartida. Ésta se apoya en cifras demoledoras: por cada gramo de cocaína consumido (una dosis) son talados cuatro metros cuadrados de bosque tropical.

Según explica a EL PAÍS el vicepresidente colombiano, Francisco Santos, que encabeza la campaña, el mensaje que quiere enviar al consumidor de droga es que la cocaína "destruye el medio ambiente de manera dramática, ayuda al cambio climático, financia a violadores de los derechos humanos, asesina jóvenes, financia secuestros, condena al desplazamiento de personas y paga por la colocación de minas que protegen cultivos de coca".

Colombia intenta reforzar la cooperación entre las naciones para buscar una estrategia global en la lucha contra las drogas, en la que hay que superar la distinción entre países productores y consumidores, que ahora "es incorrecta, porque países como Colombia y otros de la región están experimentando también un crecimiento significativo del consumo, según el ministro de Exteriores colombiano, Jaime Bermúdez.

Read more: El 'Cagocidio' de la coca en Colombia

Cocaine´s Ecocide Featured in the Ecologist

Written by Nick Kettles Tuesday, 12 May 2009 00:00

Magazine art from The Ecologist's May 2009 edition.

Renowned freelance jounalist Nick Kettles delved into cocaine´s environmental impact in the May 2009 issue of The Ecologist magazine. Here is an excerpt from the piece:

The environmental impact of drugs
Nick Kettles 19/05/2009

How much rainforest does it take for one celebrity to snort another one under the table? Nick Kettles investigates the devastating environmental impact of cocaine use

The connection between hard-partying celebrities – from A-list to F – and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) might not be immediately apparent to most. But then the free-market makes strange bedfellows of us all. The twin desires to usurp the existing Colombian power-base on the one hand, and maintain the illusion of bright-lights, big-city careers on the other, have collided to throw the spotlight on a largely ignored form of ecocide.

Read more: Cocaine´s Ecocide Featured in the Ecologist

School project proves cocaine ruins the planet as well as lives

Written by Helen McArdle, The Herald Tuesday, 28 April 2009 00:00

Shared Responsibiliy's pilot educational program has been receiving rave reviews these days. The students at Scotland's Girvan Academy were featured in Scottish daily The Herald for their important work in generating awareness about the complex issues that surround cocaine consumption, environmental devastation very much included.

The following is the full text of the article:

Educating teenagers about drug abuse used to consist of a single mantra "just say no".

But that outdated dogma has been challenged in recent months by a pilot project at an Ayrshire school, which has encouraged pupils to rethink their attitudes to cocaine.

Girvan Academy's Shared Responsibility programme asked pupils to confront issues surrounding the drugs trade - from ecological to economic - and to assess its impact on both Scottish and Colombian societies.

The project - led by computing teacher Gareth Rae and a team of three fifth-year students - won the prestigious Young Scot community award earlier this month. Now the pioneering strategy will be rolled-out to classrooms across the country.

Rather than just warning them off the drug, the pilot scheme helped pupils understand the complexities of the drugs trade and its cycle of deprivation and destruction.

Cocaine is not only a personal health hazard but a serious social problem. The drugs trade ravages communities, destroys rainforests and embeds the gulf between rich and poor in Colombia.

Read more: School project proves cocaine ruins the planet as well as lives