British customers are happy to pay extra for “ethically sourced” cocaine from South America. But there is nothing more than marketing behind it.
London – For cocaine and the associated intoxication, consumers like to put a hefty sum on the table. It is well known that the manufacture of the drug is associated with a lot of suffering. Drug dealers are therefore adopting a new strategy to get their substance to the customer – and give them a clear conscience in the process.
According to this, the cocaine is produced ethically: The farmers are paid fair and the rainforest is spared from destruction. Experts agree: that cannot be true.
Supposedly “ethical cocaine” in circulation: “You can never make that”
In Chiswick, west London, “everyone has woke coke,” claims British actress Davinia Taylor. “It comes from ‘sustainable sources’ in South America. They say something like, ‘Hi darling. I have woke coke. It’s perfectly politically correct, £ 200 a gram. ‘ They have their vegan food, their organic wine and their woke coke and a joint at the start. “
This particular cocaine is said to be in circulation across the UK, reports the Daily Mirror. The increased demand from the wealthy on the island for “ethical” coke, however, is contributing massively to the drug war and an environmental disaster in South America.
Neil Woods, an expert on drug policy, “were shown ads for ‘environmentally friendly sniff'”. But he thinks it is nothing more than a “clever marketing ploy”: “At 200 pounds per gram, I call it the ‘woke-coke hoax’. You can never make environmentally friendly cocaine when the market is as unregulated as it is today. So people pay more for the same product, ”he told the Daily Mirror. The dealers could continue to lie because they are becoming smarter and the government has no control over their operations. “The amount of money that is being made here is obscene. The cocaine industry generates around £ 2.5 billion (€ 2.94 billion) in the UK every year. “
Cocaine trafficking: A lucrative business in the UK
Experts estimate that for every gram of cocaine consumed in the UK, four square meters of rainforest are cut down. The cartels are said to be responsible for destroying 100,000 hectares each year. The cartels are particularly active in Colombia. The Catatumbo rainforest is said to have lost around 6.2 percent of its tree population between 2001 and 2019, fueled by the high demand.
“The narco farmers destroy the jungle, the government destroys the plantations and then the farmers just move on,” explains the Colombian botanist Alberto Gomez Meija. “When there is so much space and it is so lucrative, there is no end. It’s a vicious circle. ”The destruction of nature is an“ inevitable ”element of the drug trade, agrees Lawrence Gibbons, head of the drug and law enforcement agency in Great Britain. “Harmful chemicals that are needed to manufacture drugs are dumped into the water.”
Cocaine from Colombia
Experts estimate that around 1,500 tons of cocaine leave Colombia every year. About half of it goes to Europe. In the UK alone, the number of cocaine-related hospital admissions doubled from 2008/2009 (2,140) to 2018/2019 (4,341), particularly in the 50 to 59 age group.
Source: Daily Mirror
“I’ve never heard of Woke Coke, but I can tell you that nobody in Colombia makes cocaine ‘ethically’,” said aid worker Bibiana Villota. Bloodshed, destabilization of entire communities and a “horrific” cycle of violence are inevitable in drug trafficking. “If demand rises, so does production and the cycle of destruction continues. What is called fair trade cocaine only brings more greed and bloodshed with it. “
Cocaine: Production destroys the rainforest and kills many people in the drug war
The harmful effects of the drug are not only making themselves felt in South America, but also in Great Britain. “The cocaine trafficking drives violence and destruction in the UK and abroad,” explains Lawrence Gibbons. “It involves violence and exploitation in source countries and places vulnerable people on the UK roads at significant risk.”
Davinia Taylor also noted that the feel-good history of the supposedly ethical cocaine is not really true. “They always say, ‘It’s okay, it’s okay. I know it’s sustainable. We are giving something back to rural areas. ‘ If you look at this hypocrisy, it’s bullshit. “
“My dealer once sent me a drug menu via Whatsapp,” 40-year-old marketing employee Sophie told the Daily Mirror. “There was a wide choice, including low purity cocaine for 60 pounds per gram and ethically sourced cocaine for 200 pounds. It’s madness. “(Lukas Rogalla)
