Since
the aerial fumigations began, there have been thousands of
reports of serious health problems, destruction of food crops
and livestock, contamination of surface water, damage to surrounding
wilderness areas, and deforestation resulting from the need
of peasants to clear forests and plant food crops on uncontaminated
lands. As impoverished peasants move deeper into the Amazon
basin they become more dependent on coca as a cash crop. Lack
of infrastructure and ongoing civil war make it difficult
for peasants to bring legal crops to market. Because the illicit
drug trade is so profitable, traffickers will meet farmers
at the source of coca cultivation.
In
the United States, some Midwestern states use herbicides to
eradicate ¡°ditch weed,¡± feral patches of industrial hemp
leftover from the U.S. government¡¯s World War II ¡°Hemp for
Victory¡± campaign. Because non-intoxicating industrial hemp
has no commercial value, the annual ¡°ditch weed¡± eradication
efforts are mainly used by drug war bureaucrats to bolster
statistics. Other states with significant illicit marijuana
cultivation, like Hawaii, have banned the use of herbicides
in response to environmental concerns.
The
drug war¡¯s threat to the environmental is not limited to
overzealous drug warriors armed with toxic herbicides. Organized
crime groups who cash in on the drug war¡¯s distortion of
supply and demand dynamics have little regard for the environment.
In Andean nations, illicit cocaine producers dispose of chemical
byproducts by pouring excess chemicals wherever it¡¯s convenient.
The hazardous methamphetamine labs of the U.S. are reminiscent
of the deadly exploding liquor stills that sprung up throughout
the nation during alcohol prohibition. Even growers of organic
marijuana impact the environment by felling trees in national
forests to make room for illicit grow sites.
The
greatest potential threat to the environment is the prospect
of biologically engineered fungi intended to wipe out illicit
drug crops. Scientists funded by the U.S. and British governments
have been developing a killer fungus that destroys opium poppies.
The genetically engineered fungus is designed to destroy opium
poppies but leave other plant species unharmed. Similar fungi
are being designed to eradicate coca and marijuana. Due to
concerns that the introduction of genetically altered organisms
designed to wipe out entire plant species could prove catastrophic,
killer fungi have yet to be put into use. Proponents of biological
warfare as a "silver bullet" that will win the drug
war once and for all fail to recognize that natural drugs
have synthetic counterparts. If every last plant in South
America were destroyed, methamphetamine production would increase
to meet the demand for cocaine-like drugs.
In
2000, the Colombian government vetoed a U.S.-backed proposal
to test a killer fungus (Fusarium oxysporum) on the bushes
from which cocaine is made, citing Fusarium¡¯s tendency to
mutate and claiming it might pose ¡°grave risks to the environment
and humans.¡± Florida drug czar Jim McDonough approved the
use of a Fusarium fungus engineered to attack marijuana in
his home state, but was forced to give up on his plans to
introduce a killer fungus into the state¡¯s ecosystem. Florida¡¯s
Department of Environmental Protection reminded McDonough
that Fusarium species are capable of evolving rapidly, are
prone to mutation, and remain active in warm soils for years.
