Cocaine: From Coca Fields to the Streets ed. by Enrique Desmond Arias, and Thomas Grisaffi

Abstract

Reviewed by: Cocaine: From Coca Fields to the Streets ed. by Enrique Desmond Arias, and Thomas Grisaffi Jane Rausch, Emerita Arias, Enrique Desmond, and Thomas Grisaffi, eds. Cocaine: From Coca Fields to the Streets. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2021. Bookended by editor Enrique Desmond Arias's introduction and conclusion, this volume is a collection of eleven essays written by scholars who participated in a series of panels at a Latin American Studies Association (LASA) Congress in 2016 to discuss the effects of drug trafficking in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Colombia, Bolivia, and Brazil. Setting their observations within the framework of moral economy, these researchers acknowledge the effect of global drug markets on the nations they examined, and they show how [End Page 225] drug trafficking has developed via a complex process of self-regulation in the shadow of a state power that formally seeks to destroy it. They review the interconnection between sites along cocaine's global supply chain; the implications of those interconnections for social, political, and economic experiences in places affected by the trade; and, conversely, how those interconnections affect the cocaine trade (3). Taken collectively, these essays demonstrate that entire ways of life are built around cocaine commodification and show how state authority is coupled with the self-regulating practices of drug producers, traffickers, and dealers. Their authors also suggest more progressive policies that acknowledge the important role drugs play in the lives of individuals at the urban and rural margins. Since the essays are all high quality, a brief comparison of just two of them will provide an idea of their collective value. In her article, "Drug Crops, Twisted Motorcycles, and Cultural Loss in Indigenous Colombia," Autumn Zellers-Leon notes that Colombian Law 30 of 1986 allows indigenous people to grow up to thirty coca plants for local traditional use and exchange, yet these farmers are also active participants in the illegal drug trade that began in the 1970s. Although the drugs they produce make up a crucial part of the drug commodity chain, they receive only 2 percent of the profits. Nevertheless, Zellers-Leon notes that rather than disrupt the traditional economy, the drug trade has promoted development of a cash-based economy in rural areas that has helped indigenous families meet their basic needs. One of the most basic changes has been the abandonment of horse-drawn vehicles for motorcycles. Drug gangs introduced these probably stolen motorcycles and then dumped them in remote places such as rural Cauca. Their presence promoted road building and the expansion of municipal town centers, but they also contributed to the breakdown of traditional community values. In this one example, indigenous families' increasing dependence on global commodities challenges their identity models rooted in past lifeways. In fact, many of Cauca's indigenous communities could not sustain themselves today without the availability of motorcycles for transport. Thus, in this way, the drug trade has helped to mitigate the effects of class inequalities in rural indigenous regions. Zeilers-Leon concludes that to resolve the situation, the state must prioritize the needs of indigenous farmers in both long-term agricultural development projects and policies that favor indigenous agricultural goods (114). [End Page 226] By contrast, Taniele Rui's essay compares drug consumption between 1990 and 2017 in two of Brazil's largest cities—São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Her case studies reveal that the illegal drug trade produces and regulates user scenes in both cities, but in different ways. In São Paulo, a single criminal faction manages conflicts that the trade generates, and illicit markets are not necessarily violent. Drug users concentrate in the downtown area, and the government's repressive efforts to repress drug use have not only increased the number of crack users in prison but also strengthen the criminal organization by providing new recruits. In Rio de Janeiro, state policies have displaced drug users to different parts of the city. This strategy has encouraged activities by illegally armed actors in the favelas and hides the problem from the view of tourists who do not see the consumption sites. Rui concludes that since the crack trade is not the same everywhere in Brazil and does...