NCJ Number
131480
Journal
Comunidad Y Drogas Issue: 15 Dated: (June 1990) Pages: 61-69
Date Published
1990
Length
9 pages
Annotation
On February 15, 1990, the Presidents of Bolivia, Colombia, the United States, and Peru met in Cartagena (Colombia) and issued a declaration in which they expressed their concern about the demand, supply, and consumption of drugs.
Abstract
They agreed to increase economic cooperation by intensification of trade and investment through local and international initiatives. The parties realized that drug trafficking affects their economies in both creation of jobs and foreign currency earnings. Setting up social programs to help deal with emergencies and to support the balance of payments will be necessary in order to compensate for the social and economic loss caused by eliminating a drug-oriented economy. While this is meant as a short-term measure, other long-term steps such as investment programs to replace the drug-based economy in the countries which have been affected by the drug trade must also be taken. The development of alternative crops together with financing by the United States and initiatives to stimulate export trade and private foreign investment could be a way to alter a drug-oriented economy. Information campaigns in both urban and rural areas, intervention by the armies of the various countries, the eradication of illicit crops, the establishment of control over communication equipment, and cooperation in the legal field are additional measures which should be taken to fight this battle. The profits derived from the illicit drug traffic could be diverted to finance the prevention programs and alternative development programs that were established at the United States-sponsored Economic Summit of July 1990 held in Houston (Texas).