Introduction

Since the early 1970s, the cocaine and heroin industry has changed significantly. Coca cultivation, coca paste production, and cocaine processing have increased (cocaine is made from coca paste, which is derived from the coca plant). Poppy cultivation, opium production, and heroin processing have also increased (heroin is made from opium, which comes from the opium poppy plant). More countries have been integrated into what has become a global illicit drug market. Drug traffickers have murdered policy-makers, judges, soldiers, policemen, and bystanders. They have also used corruption to facilitate their business activities. Moreover, illicit crop cultivation and drug production have destroyed sensitive natural habitats. On the drug consumption side, an increasing number of people have begun consuming cocaine and heroin, not least because many users of illicit drugs have switched from more harmless substances, especially cannabis and opium, to harder substances. Increasing drug consumption has led, among other problems, to a virtual explosion of AIDS in drug-consuming regions and along trafficking routes (for descriptions of these developments see Labrousse 2003; McCoy 2003; Stares 1996).