Aug 5, 2013 · Finding cocaine in Colombia is not a difficult or costly endeavor. The country, trying to clean up its image, has in recent years attempted to crack down on one of the two stimulants that have...

Stacks of cocaine seized by the Colombian police. The illegal drug trade in Colombia has, since the 1970s, centered successively on four major drug trafficking cartels: Medellín, Cali, Norte del Valle, and North Coast, as well as several bandas criminales, or BACRIMs. [1]

Feb 21, 2019 · Colombia now hosts major music festivals across the country, where a local harm reduction organization has been testing drugs for their safety.

Oct 31, 2014 · Cocaine is both a curse and a salvation for Colombians: farmers grow coca for cash but fear discovery, families must cooperate with guerrillas or become refugees and destitute teens become hitmen for a quick buck—although few survive long in the ruthless underworld.

Feb 7, 2025 · Colombian President Gustavo Petro has said that “cocaine is no worse than whiskey” as he suggested the global cocaine industry could be “easily dismantled” if the drug was legalized worldwide.

Feb 8, 2025 · In Colombia, drug consumption, including cocaine, is not criminalized, but regulations prohibit it in certain specific circumstances. Possessing drugs within the legally permitted amounts for personal use is not penalized.

Sixteen of Colombia’s 19 departments (equivalent to states) saw increases in coca cultivation during 2023. The highest increases occurred in the regions bordering Ecuador and Venezuela, areas often neglected by the state and influenced (if not controlled) by criminal gangs.

Jul 13, 2024 · Genevieve Glatsky and Federico Rios took a plane, car, boat and motorcycle and hiked to reach Caño Cabra to talk to farmers about changes in the coca industry. For decades, one industry has...

Feb 22, 2022 · Hundreds of videos posted on TikTok by young Colombians document cocaine being produced in the South American country, from the fields where coca grows to the labs where the leaves are...

Oct 29, 2018 · There’s more cocaine being manufactured in Colombia than ever before. You see fields spread sporadically across the countryside, but once you venture more inland they are everywhere. I once...