# The Golden Age of Cocaine Is Happening Right Now  ## Metadata - Author:: [[Matthew Bristow]] - Full Title:: The Golden Age of Cocaine Is Happening Right Now - Category: #articles - URL: https://apple.news/A8hjtJlZhTU6WxiZVRoNkog ## Highlights > We’re living in the golden age of cocaine,” said [Toby Muse](https://www.tobymuse.com/), the author of the 2020 book *Kilo: Inside the Deadliest Cocaine Cartels*, who has been reporting on the Colombian drug trade for more than two decades. “Cocaine is reaching corners of the planet that have never seen it before, because there is so much of the drug.” ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4vx87agqf7h6ghtd2sdtjq)) > The illicit industry now produces about 2,000 tons of cocaine per year, almost double the amount being made a decade ago, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Satellite photos show that the amount of Colombian land planted with coca [rose to a record](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-20/colombian-cocaine-production-jumped-to-all-time-high-last-year) of more than 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) last year, more than five times what it was when Escobar was gunned down in 1993. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4vy3jysqectmtcmh1ybcgk)) > While cocaine is still reaching traditional markets in the US, it is deluging Europe, where seizures have tripled in just five years, according to EU figures ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4vzwchz896z6hf0f8ycjr1)) > And the average purity of cocaine on the streets of Europe has risen to more than 60%, from 37% in 2010, while [residue](https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/html/pods/waste-water-analysis_en) from the drug in major cities’ wastewater has doubled over the past decade. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4w0fd7ck4pdyweek6g1fsj)) #### Amazonian Heat > One worker takes the leaves from the sacks and feeds them into a shredding machine. The chopped up coca is treated with cement, quicklime and sulfuric acid in a bit of bucket chemistry, then left to soak in giant tubs of gasoline. The paste is later extracted from the solution using sulfuric acid and ammonia. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4w3tj4vz151agn5grr6t9k)) > with. One kilo of paste is enough to make one kilo of cocaine, which might sell wholesale for about $30,000 in the US, $50,000 in Germany or $160,000 in Australia. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4w595rfn2qay07brf0wfam)) > One lab worker inquired about how much the drugs would fetch in London and when told the answer — about 20 to 30 times the price in Colombia — asked a reporter what he knew about UK visa rules and airline ticket prices. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4w63ke77w80890gct6eyvg)) > Traffickers have tapped into the explosion in trade in fresh produce and other goods from South America’s Pacific coast over the past 20 years, helped by free-trade accords and an expansion of the Panama canal. Cartels have become increasingly sophisticated at hiding drugs among the millions of containers heading into ports such as Antwerp and Rotterdam every year ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4w8mbkj0bwh3c4vb42fnv3)) > The perishable nature of cargos such as bananas, blueberries, asparagus, flowers and grapes works to traffickers’ advantage by discouraging police or customs inspections that would delay shipment. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4w8zye1k76eba97454yzbb)) #### Soaring Production > The authorities eased up on forced eradication of coca during the negotiations, and said they would focus on intercepting shipments and confiscating laundered money. Then, in 2015, Colombia stopped spraying coca fields with the herbicide glyphosate, the government’s main weapon against growers, after the World Health Organization said it was probably carcinogenic. The amount of land planted with coca has roughly tripled since the peace talks started. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4wcpd8v6y5wyqq34a36639)) > After the crop substitution programs failed, “people had to go back to relying on their coca,” Morales said. (Morales himself used to keep bees, but he says they died of hunger or migrated elsewhere after planes flew over spraying glyphosate.) ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4wdz0m6dt0skfdjrt8vb8m)) #### A Tipping Point? > Petro called for a [new approach in the war on drugs](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-01/world-s-biggest-cocaine-producer-rethinks-the-war-on-drugs-q-a), saying that the policies pursued by Bogota and Washington for decades have fueled violence while failing to cut consumption. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4wfczt2wwsfmsgstjwpeht)) > It took about five days, not even a week,” Morales said, and the lab was up and running again. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4wgczqdjsj501aravxx0hj)) # The Golden Age of Cocaine Is Happening Right Now  ## Metadata - Author:: [[Matthew Bristow]] - Full Title:: The Golden Age of Cocaine Is Happening Right Now - Category: #articles - URL: https://apple.news/A8hjtJlZhTU6WxiZVRoNkog ## Highlights > We’re living in the golden age of cocaine,” said [Toby Muse](https://www.tobymuse.com/), the author of the 2020 book *Kilo: Inside the Deadliest Cocaine Cartels*, who has been reporting on the Colombian drug trade for more than two decades. “Cocaine is reaching corners of the planet that have never seen it before, because there is so much of the drug.” ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4vx87agqf7h6ghtd2sdtjq)) > The illicit industry now produces about 2,000 tons of cocaine per year, almost double the amount being made a decade ago, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Satellite photos show that the amount of Colombian land planted with coca [rose to a record](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-20/colombian-cocaine-production-jumped-to-all-time-high-last-year) of more than 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) last year, more than five times what it was when Escobar was gunned down in 1993. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4vy3jysqectmtcmh1ybcgk)) > While cocaine is still reaching traditional markets in the US, it is deluging Europe, where seizures have tripled in just five years, according to EU figures ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4vzwchz896z6hf0f8ycjr1)) > And the average purity of cocaine on the streets of Europe has risen to more than 60%, from 37% in 2010, while [residue](https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/html/pods/waste-water-analysis_en) from the drug in major cities’ wastewater has doubled over the past decade. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4w0fd7ck4pdyweek6g1fsj)) #### Amazonian Heat > One worker takes the leaves from the sacks and feeds them into a shredding machine. The chopped up coca is treated with cement, quicklime and sulfuric acid in a bit of bucket chemistry, then left to soak in giant tubs of gasoline. The paste is later extracted from the solution using sulfuric acid and ammonia. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4w3tj4vz151agn5grr6t9k)) > with. One kilo of paste is enough to make one kilo of cocaine, which might sell wholesale for about $30,000 in the US, $50,000 in Germany or $160,000 in Australia. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4w595rfn2qay07brf0wfam)) > One lab worker inquired about how much the drugs would fetch in London and when told the answer — about 20 to 30 times the price in Colombia — asked a reporter what he knew about UK visa rules and airline ticket prices. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4w63ke77w80890gct6eyvg)) > Traffickers have tapped into the explosion in trade in fresh produce and other goods from South America’s Pacific coast over the past 20 years, helped by free-trade accords and an expansion of the Panama canal. Cartels have become increasingly sophisticated at hiding drugs among the millions of containers heading into ports such as Antwerp and Rotterdam every year ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4w8mbkj0bwh3c4vb42fnv3)) > The perishable nature of cargos such as bananas, blueberries, asparagus, flowers and grapes works to traffickers’ advantage by discouraging police or customs inspections that would delay shipment. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4w8zye1k76eba97454yzbb)) #### Soaring Production > The authorities eased up on forced eradication of coca during the negotiations, and said they would focus on intercepting shipments and confiscating laundered money. Then, in 2015, Colombia stopped spraying coca fields with the herbicide glyphosate, the government’s main weapon against growers, after the World Health Organization said it was probably carcinogenic. The amount of land planted with coca has roughly tripled since the peace talks started. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4wcpd8v6y5wyqq34a36639)) > After the crop substitution programs failed, “people had to go back to relying on their coca,” Morales said. (Morales himself used to keep bees, but he says they died of hunger or migrated elsewhere after planes flew over spraying glyphosate.) ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4wdz0m6dt0skfdjrt8vb8m)) #### A Tipping Point? > Petro called for a [new approach in the war on drugs](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-01/world-s-biggest-cocaine-producer-rethinks-the-war-on-drugs-q-a), saying that the policies pursued by Bogota and Washington for decades have fueled violence while failing to cut consumption. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4wfczt2wwsfmsgstjwpeht)) > It took about five days, not even a week,” Morales said, and the lab was up and running again. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gn4wgczqdjsj501aravxx0hj))