Necessary, sufficient and contributory factors generating illegal economic activity, and specifically drug-related activity, in Colombia

Abstract

The international drug control regime is formulated under a basic paradigm: all drugs included in the convention schedules I, II and IV can only have medical and research uses. The policies derived from these conventions forbid all recreational, ritual, experimental, or self-medicating consumption of coca, cocaine, opium, heroin, marijuana and many other drugs. The conventions allow the production of controlled drugs for medical and research uses and criminalize all other production. Where consumption is concerned they are less rigid, as users of illegal drugs do not have to be arrested or jailed. Anti-drug policies seek to suppress both illicit drug supply and demand but are formulated without clearly spelling out the reasons why there is a demand and a supply for illegal drugs. To understand illegal drug demand and supply it is necessary to have clear answers to fundamental criminological questions such as: Why do people commit crimes? Or why some individuals contravene formal or informal norms while others do not? Policymakers, however, do not hesitate to formulate and implement anti-drug policies without having first considered those questions. They proceed as if their answers were obvious or known. Yet, when asked about the reasons why the illegal drugs industry develops in a location, most answers are highly questionable and at best partially right. The aim of this essay is to show this using Colombia as an example.