6 ms·

Compare that to the estimated $2.7 billion that the cocaine industry in Columbia is assumed to be worth though. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45

Compare that to the estimated $2.7 billion that the cocaine industry in Columbia is assumed to be worth though. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45578492 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45578492 That $800 million's a drop in the bucket by comparison.

pydry 6y ago
There would also be the implicit threat of regime change if they legalized. America would probably support any upcoming attempted right wing coups as it has in most of the rest of Latin America.
sandworm101 6y ago
>> the cocaine industry in Columbia is assumed to be worth That is not the industry literally inside columbia, rather the value of cocaine as exported from columbia. Legalizing cocaine in-country would not legalize the international smuggling network. For the columbian government to sell all that cocaine they would still have to smuggle it out to customers. The americans/UK/Canada/europe/russia/china would not accept such international behavior.
- nicoburns 6y ago
  Indeed, for reference my understanding is that street cocaine usually sells for £50-£100/gram in the UK, and that this is usually cut with other substances. Whereas in Colombia you can get what people tell me is much purer cocaine for £3/gram. A LOT of that £2.7bn is in smuggling costs.
  - erdos4d 6y ago
    Almost all of it is. I'm in Ecuador and its about $5/g here, hell if you stay at a touristic place and drop some money, I bet they'd comp your coke just to get you into the room right now. Its dirt cheap anywhere in South America.
renewiltord 6y ago
Wait, $800 million is almost a third of $2.7 billion. That doesn't seem like a drop in the bucket. That seems like a third of a bucket which is a large amount of a bucket.
- Hello71 6y ago
  or a really small bucket.
rubyn00bie 6y ago
Or... compare that to the US cocaine market: https://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2010/1.3_The_globa_cocaine_market.pdf https://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2010/1.3_The_globa_c... which in 2008 was worth $55 billion. Legalizing cocaine production, and becoming the defacto global supplier of that market which is exactly what would happen-- the gray market export of Cocaine would become utterly enormous. I personally think this would probably be closer to a $50bn+ a year boost to their economy-- maybe more. The street value being 2x-3x more than the add to GDP, but most of that additional value will probably be consumed by cartels importing the drug to larger markets.
- godelski 6y ago
  > and becoming the defacto global supplier of that market Isn't Columbia already the de facto global supplier of cocaine? Not of just the American market, but the... global ~~supplier~~ market.
  - Melting_Harps 6y ago
    > Isn't Columbia already the de facto global supplier of cocaine? Not of just the American market, but the... global ~~supplier~~ market. I'm not a drug expert, but I seem to recall island nations of S. East Asia being a large exporter of cocaine, too. It was on one of those drug Vice series. Specifically coming from the 'golden triangle.' I'm not savvy enough to know if it was all just synthetic versions of it or simply product from Columbia that is re-packaged/cut for the Asian Market. Personally speaking, I dislike all amphetamines but some people are equally as addicted to caffeine as they are to cocaine, I've worked in 2 Industries where both are consumed in large quantities on a daily basis. Which is why I personally want nothing to do with them, but if consenting adults are willing to take on the responsibility and we get one step closer to ending all of the cronyist BS that comes from the drug war than I hope it happens. Especially if it gives subsistence farmers in Columbia a cash crop they can increase their standard of living from and sell in open market trades rather than in some clandestine cartel operation.
    - lostgame 6y ago

pydry 6y ago

There would also be the implicit threat of regime change if they legalized. America would probably support any upcoming attempted right wing coups as it has in most of the rest of Latin America.

sandworm101 6y ago

>> the cocaine industry in Columbia is assumed to be worth That is not the industry literally inside columbia, rather the value of cocaine as exported from columbia. Legalizing cocaine in-country would not legalize the international smuggling network. For the columbian government to sell all that cocaine they would still have to smuggle it out to customers. The americans/UK/Canada/europe/russia/china would not accept such international behavior.

nicoburns 6y ago
Indeed, for reference my understanding is that street cocaine usually sells for £50-£100/gram in the UK, and that this is usually cut with other substances. Whereas in Colombia you can get what people tell me is much purer cocaine for £3/gram. A LOT of that £2.7bn is in smuggling costs.
- erdos4d 6y ago
  Almost all of it is. I'm in Ecuador and its about $5/g here, hell if you stay at a touristic place and drop some money, I bet they'd comp your coke just to get you into the room right now. Its dirt cheap anywhere in South America.

renewiltord 6y ago

Wait, $800 million is almost a third of $2.7 billion. That doesn't seem like a drop in the bucket. That seems like a third of a bucket which is a large amount of a bucket.

Hello71 6y ago
or a really small bucket.

rubyn00bie 6y ago

Or... compare that to the US cocaine market: https://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2010/1.3_The_globa_cocaine_market.pdf https://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2010/1.3_The_globa_c... which in 2008 was worth $55 billion. Legalizing cocaine production, and becoming the defacto global supplier of that market which is exactly what would happen-- the gray market export of Cocaine would become utterly enormous. I personally think this would probably be closer to a $50bn+ a year boost to their economy-- maybe more. The street value being 2x-3x more than the add to GDP, but most of that additional value will probably be consumed by cartels importing the drug to larger markets.

godelski 6y ago
> and becoming the defacto global supplier of that market Isn't Columbia already the de facto global supplier of cocaine? Not of just the American market, but the... global ~~supplier~~ market.
- Melting_Harps 6y ago
  > Isn't Columbia already the de facto global supplier of cocaine? Not of just the American market, but the... global ~~supplier~~ market. I'm not a drug expert, but I seem to recall island nations of S. East Asia being a large exporter of cocaine, too. It was on one of those drug Vice series. Specifically coming from the 'golden triangle.' I'm not savvy enough to know if it was all just synthetic versions of it or simply product from Columbia that is re-packaged/cut for the Asian Market. Personally speaking, I dislike all amphetamines but some people are equally as addicted to caffeine as they are to cocaine, I've worked in 2 Industries where both are consumed in large quantities on a daily basis. Which is why I personally want nothing to do with them, but if consenting adults are willing to take on the responsibility and we get one step closer to ending all of the cronyist BS that comes from the drug war than I hope it happens. Especially if it gives subsistence farmers in Columbia a cash crop they can increase their standard of living from and sell in open market trades rather than in some clandestine cartel operation.
  - lostgame 6y ago