ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a source areas and the role of drug crops within the local economy and agro-environment. It discusses the efforts of the United States Government (USG) as the main proponent of drug control policies, and introduce the concept of alternative development. Despite increasing recognition that the lack of rural development is a significant factor in the production of illicit drug crops, law enforcement still dominates the current drug control strategy of the USG. Although Thailand and Colombia have become synonymous with illicit drugs in the popular imagination, they are the major producers of drug crops. The USG has long been an active proponent of international drug control. The USG’s estimation that approximately 80% of the narcotics consumed in the United States is of foreign origin has led it to believe that the control of production at source is essential to a successful drug control strategy.
