What most people don’t see is how vulnerable Costa Rica is to outside influencers.
In 1949, Costa Rica disbanded its army in favor of putting more money into programs focused on internal development like education.
The local cops are so wildly undertrained and underpaid, they’re often just little gangs. At least the federal police operations (the OIJ) are no joke, but there is still corruption.
What the cartel are doing, they’ve been doing since my wife and I lived there a decade ago, and it’s the same thing they’ve been doing since long before that.
But the cartel aren’t the only organized group having its way with Costa Rica over the years. Her sharks are plucked for soup (discarded to the sea floor with no fins, suffocating all the way down), her ancient trees felled for bougie furniture, and her beaches are sold for tourism money.
When we left, it was partly because we felt unwelcome there as foreign residents. And who could blame anyone for that sentiment? We were symbols of an endless infestation.
But I do think the Costa Ricans have it in them to surmount all of this. They might need some help—who among us doesn’t?—but I do believe in the Ticos.
And as you’ve pointed out in this piece, we should all care that they do. Costa Rica is home to 5% of the planets biodiversity. That’s a lot for a country no bigger than West Virginia.
Damon, thank you for sharing your insightful note on Costa Rica's vulnerabilities and strengths. You’ve highlighted some critical issues that often go unnoticed, such as the challenges faced by local law enforcement and the impact of external influences on the country's natural resources. It’s true that Costa Rica's decision to disband its army in 1949 was a bold move to prioritize education and internal development, but it also left the nation reliant on under-resourced police forces. Your observations about the environmental exploitation—like shark finning and deforestation for luxury goods—underscore the ongoing struggles against both visible and invisible threats.
Despite these challenges, your belief in the resilience of Costa Ricans, or Ticos, is inspiring. As you pointed out, Costa Rica is home to an impressive 5% of the planet's biodiversity, a testament to its ecological significance. While external support can aid in overcoming these hurdles, it’s heartening to hear your confidence in the local population’s ability to rise above these adversities.
Thank you for drawing attention to these important issues. It's crucial for us all to care about and support Costa Rica in preserving its natural beauty and cultural heritage. Your reflections remind us of the importance of global awareness and cooperation in tackling such complex challenges.
This is sad but not surprising. The illicit drug trade is big business. And like all business models, supply follows demand.
It will be no surprise to readers that the U.S. is the No. 1 demand nation for drugs, both legal and illegal. The U.S. has spent, since 1971, over one trillion dollars on the War on Drugs, a policy initiated by Pres Nixon and continuing since his Administration. The U.S. has enacted harsh laws for drug offenses; it has put in place drug-education programs like D.A.R.E., and it has tried to prevent drugs from crossing its borders with border-control measures.
It is with limited success that these judicial and law-enforcement measures work; and many are saying, with justification and data, that the War on Drugs is not a tenable solution. That as long as demand remains high--and sadly it does--drugs will wreak havoc in the America, Latin America and South America This includes Costa Rica.
The best solution is one that reduces demand for drugs. The solution is not solely a judicial one or a law-enforcement one, but a socio-economic one, and likely an educational one in America First, where most illicit drugs are consumed.
It is disheartening to see the impact of the illicit drug trade on countries like Costa Rica, which are caught in the crossfire due to high demand from the U.S. Your point about addressing the root cause—demand—is crucial. I agree, it's a multifaceted problem that requires a holistic approach, involving not just policy changes but also community engagement and support. It's clear that finding sustainable solutions will require collaboration and innovation, both domestically and internationally.
It sucks. I’ve been traveling there for 3 decades and have property there. A peaceful and beautiful country is being destroyed. They have no army and limited law enforcement—all that will be forced to change.
They’ve been a peaceful anomaly to Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador, etc. I fear that has changed.
Dee, thank you for sharing your concerns about the situation in Costa Rica. It's understandable to feel disheartened seeing such a peaceful and beautiful country facing challenges from drug cartels and other external pressures. The absence of a military and limited law enforcement resources certainly add to the complexity of the situation. Costa Rica has been a peaceful anomaly in the region, and it's concerning to think that this might be changing.
Your decades-long connection to the country and personal investment there give you a unique perspective. It's important for those who care about Costa Rica to continue advocating for its protection and support efforts to maintain its peace and natural beauty. Hopefully, with continued international cooperation and local resilience, Costa Rica can overcome these challenges and preserve its status as a haven of biodiversity and tranquility. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and for your continued support of this remarkable country.
Maybe it's time to do something different. The Global Community can't even stop tankers full of crude oil and gasoline from being successfully smuggled.
Thank you, DC, for sharing your thoughts on the global scale of the illicit drug trade. It is a complex issue, with a vast consumer base and significant revenues driving the market. Your point about the challenges in stopping even large-scale smuggling operations highlights the difficulty in addressing this problem. It seems clear that traditional approaches may not be enough, and perhaps it's time to explore new strategies that focus on reducing demand and addressing the socio-economic factors at play. Your insights add an important perspective to this ongoing conversation.
Yes, but I've been hearing that for the past 50 years. (Except for that last line.)
We need to open a thorough discussion of where the costs of prohibiting illicit drugs--in effect turning the trillion-dollar business in the commodities over to a price-supported monopoly run by career criminals and the corruptions of hidden wealth--exceed the costs of drug abuse and addiction. Not a perfunctory discussion, stuffed with dismissive strawperson arguments and vague sweeping generalities. A candid discussion, built on a foundation of knowledge rather than myths and wishful thinking.
I keep hearing and reading news media op-eds and popular discourse--and a few elected officeholders, the only people with the power to craft policy changes--exclaiming that "the war on drugs has failed." Sometimes that statement is offered along with some useful policy suggestions or reforms. But nothing less than a thorough review and overhaul of legal prohibitions and regulation will productively address this situation, and no one in power in public life has yet broached that prospect as a call for official hearings.
The current emphasis on one-policy-fits-all prohibition has done more to empower transnational organized crime and gangs than any other single factor. The vastness of the illicit trade and the power of the syndicates who run it is responsible for the functional breakdown of the H2-A guest worker program, particularly between the US and Mexico; it's been a primary driver of uninvited immigration from Mexico and Central America across the US southern border for the past quarter-century; the control of much of rural Mexico by well-armed criminal paramilitary gangs has led to a massive expansion of another industry- the inhumane, fraud-ridden business of human trafficking; the illicit trade has corrupted the top reaches of governments all over Latin America for the past half-century; the adverse environmental impacts of illicit drug crops, clandestine chemical refining, transportation routes, and the undermining of the ethos of social responsibility by the lucrative rewards of the illicit trade have been polluting, eroding, and dewatering natural environments from Bolivia to Canada. The illicit smuggling networks also enable a parallel trade in endangered species, severely hampering effective interdiction in the process.
None of that is new, either. The end-stage impacts at the US end have been manifest on a wide and deep scale for over 25 years (although there's an increasingly loud outcry condemning the most visible end-stage impacts, as if that situation just showed up out of nowhere between 3 and 15 years ago.) Those impacts are the result of a situation of political corruption south of the border--enabled by illicit drugs trade profits, and sometimes aided by a corrupt regime of American banking regulation and enforcement--for more than 50 years.
But those realities are too uncomfortable to bring up, in the country that drove the first international bans on the trade in these substances 125 years ago. Beginning with conventions that sought to ban the opium trade, and pursued in alliance with Imperial Great Britain. Ironically, both US and UK mercantile interests had enriched themselves with the opium trade throughout the 19th century. The international bans- pursued first through multinational agreements, and later through institutions like the League of Nations and the UN- later spread to cover opioids, cocaine, cannabis, and an array of synthetic drugs, through the 1961 UN Single Convention and later amendments that were proposed and ratified in the early 1970s.
The result has been folly, corruption, and deception. Including self-deception. Compounded several times over. I think that it's vitally important to have some sort of global rule of law. But the priority emphasis needs to be on protecting the resources of the natural world--beginning with effective enforcement of commercial fishing, and a global effort to stop the pollution of oceans and waterways, and reverse its effects. The historic emphasis on prioritizing broad-based criminal prohibitions of the drugs trade emphasizes the worst, most dystopian aspects of "Global Law Enforcement"--applied as an exercise in futility and corruption to address a problem that's trivial in comparison with commercial fisheries poaching and the nonconsensual poisoning of the planet with plastics and toxic chemicals, which has skyrocketed over the previous decades to an extent that far surpasses the increased global demand for forbidden substances.
DC, hank you for sharing such a comprehensive perspective on the complexities surrounding drug prohibition and its wide-ranging impacts!! Your insights highlight the need for a more nuanced and informed discussion about the costs and consequences of current policies. It's clear that the issue is deeply intertwined with broader socio-economic and environmental challenges, and addressing it requires a multifaceted approach.
The points you raise about the empowerment of organized crime, the environmental impacts, and the historical context of drug prohibition provide valuable context for understanding why a reevaluation of current strategies is necessary. It's crucial to move beyond simplistic solutions and engage in candid discussions that consider all aspects of this global issue!
Your call for a thorough review and overhaul of legal prohibitions is timely, and it's important for policymakers to consider these perspectives as they work towards more effective solutions. Thank you for contributing to this important conversation and encouraging a deeper exploration of these critical issues!
The discussion of undoing some of the legal regime isn't as taboo as it was for the generations who first made the rules. But actual leadership is rare in the political class; the representatives of democracies often need to be pressured into action by a fed-up citizenry. Which is what needs to happen.
I have a personal history of illicit substance use. But I'm a real square outlier, in some respects: when I found out who was running Bolivia in the aftermath of the August 1980 coup, I adopted a personal policy of abstaining from cocaine. I've been prescribed opioids for acute pain, but I use the minimum amount, and when the condition is resolved, that's the end of it.
If I wanted to buy a prohibited substance from an illicit source, I could probably find a source for most of them--in some form--within a day or two. I mean, just go to the right bar or nightclub, and ask around. But between the newly legal availability of cannabis and the spread of fentanyl contamination, I'm entirely out of the underground market. A decision apparently shared by more and more of today's teenagers; although the news media rarely speaks of it, use of opioids has dropped by around 2/3 among young Americans over the previous ten years. Although TV news clips and print reports where I live give splashy headline play to every single overdose by a high school student--even a nonfatal overdose--the vast majority of the opioid overdose crisis is driven by confirmed addicts, mostly older Americans who picked up their dependency from the diversion market in laxly regulated prescription pills that existed prior to the newly effective organized central tracking database, and the DEA crackdown that began around 2014. Which is what accounts for the now-booming street market in fentanyl. a substance that is now cheaper than beer in some places, but which is having trouble attracting a new consumer base nonetheless. https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/price-of-illicit-fentanyl-drops-to-dangerously-cheap-in-twin-cities-metro/
Overall, a logical, predictable chain of consequences.
This is heartbreaking. I respect the conservation efforts of Costa Rica. It is alarming to see the cartel infiltration but it seems organized crime is the theme of the times.
Nessa, it is heartbreaking. Still, Costa Rica's resilience and dedication to preserving its natural beauty offers hope. With continued support, we can hope they are able to overcome these obstacles and maintain its leadership in environmental protection.
It is very optimistic to think we can push back against the power and greed that is the cartel industry (or any industry really). Do you know if there have been historical examples of such an occurrence in modern human history? Or do you believe this can be a first?
I am just curious as I am not well informed of cartel happenings just that they tend to symbolize dominion and destruction. I wonder if they own the government of CR like they do in other countries. I wonder what Christiana Figueres stance is on the issue?
Interestingly tonight Trump said the only way to stop drug trafficking is with the death penalty. Sounds plausible, if the consequences of your actions, is death, maybe no one will want the job of distributing drugs. Sounds harsh, but the alternative is worse for the victims of drugs. Slow tortured lives.
What most people don’t see is how vulnerable Costa Rica is to outside influencers.
In 1949, Costa Rica disbanded its army in favor of putting more money into programs focused on internal development like education.
The local cops are so wildly undertrained and underpaid, they’re often just little gangs. At least the federal police operations (the OIJ) are no joke, but there is still corruption.
What the cartel are doing, they’ve been doing since my wife and I lived there a decade ago, and it’s the same thing they’ve been doing since long before that.
But the cartel aren’t the only organized group having its way with Costa Rica over the years. Her sharks are plucked for soup (discarded to the sea floor with no fins, suffocating all the way down), her ancient trees felled for bougie furniture, and her beaches are sold for tourism money.
When we left, it was partly because we felt unwelcome there as foreign residents. And who could blame anyone for that sentiment? We were symbols of an endless infestation.
But I do think the Costa Ricans have it in them to surmount all of this. They might need some help—who among us doesn’t?—but I do believe in the Ticos.
And as you’ve pointed out in this piece, we should all care that they do. Costa Rica is home to 5% of the planets biodiversity. That’s a lot for a country no bigger than West Virginia.
Damon, thank you for sharing your insightful note on Costa Rica's vulnerabilities and strengths. You’ve highlighted some critical issues that often go unnoticed, such as the challenges faced by local law enforcement and the impact of external influences on the country's natural resources. It’s true that Costa Rica's decision to disband its army in 1949 was a bold move to prioritize education and internal development, but it also left the nation reliant on under-resourced police forces. Your observations about the environmental exploitation—like shark finning and deforestation for luxury goods—underscore the ongoing struggles against both visible and invisible threats.
Despite these challenges, your belief in the resilience of Costa Ricans, or Ticos, is inspiring. As you pointed out, Costa Rica is home to an impressive 5% of the planet's biodiversity, a testament to its ecological significance. While external support can aid in overcoming these hurdles, it’s heartening to hear your confidence in the local population’s ability to rise above these adversities.
Thank you for drawing attention to these important issues. It's crucial for us all to care about and support Costa Rica in preserving its natural beauty and cultural heritage. Your reflections remind us of the importance of global awareness and cooperation in tackling such complex challenges.
Thank you for that reflection and pura vida, Mae.
🙏🙏
This is sad but not surprising. The illicit drug trade is big business. And like all business models, supply follows demand.
It will be no surprise to readers that the U.S. is the No. 1 demand nation for drugs, both legal and illegal. The U.S. has spent, since 1971, over one trillion dollars on the War on Drugs, a policy initiated by Pres Nixon and continuing since his Administration. The U.S. has enacted harsh laws for drug offenses; it has put in place drug-education programs like D.A.R.E., and it has tried to prevent drugs from crossing its borders with border-control measures.
It is with limited success that these judicial and law-enforcement measures work; and many are saying, with justification and data, that the War on Drugs is not a tenable solution. That as long as demand remains high--and sadly it does--drugs will wreak havoc in the America, Latin America and South America This includes Costa Rica.
The best solution is one that reduces demand for drugs. The solution is not solely a judicial one or a law-enforcement one, but a socio-economic one, and likely an educational one in America First, where most illicit drugs are consumed.
It is disheartening to see the impact of the illicit drug trade on countries like Costa Rica, which are caught in the crossfire due to high demand from the U.S. Your point about addressing the root cause—demand—is crucial. I agree, it's a multifaceted problem that requires a holistic approach, involving not just policy changes but also community engagement and support. It's clear that finding sustainable solutions will require collaboration and innovation, both domestically and internationally.
It sucks. I’ve been traveling there for 3 decades and have property there. A peaceful and beautiful country is being destroyed. They have no army and limited law enforcement—all that will be forced to change.
They’ve been a peaceful anomaly to Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador, etc. I fear that has changed.
Dee, thank you for sharing your concerns about the situation in Costa Rica. It's understandable to feel disheartened seeing such a peaceful and beautiful country facing challenges from drug cartels and other external pressures. The absence of a military and limited law enforcement resources certainly add to the complexity of the situation. Costa Rica has been a peaceful anomaly in the region, and it's concerning to think that this might be changing.
Your decades-long connection to the country and personal investment there give you a unique perspective. It's important for those who care about Costa Rica to continue advocating for its protection and support efforts to maintain its peace and natural beauty. Hopefully, with continued international cooperation and local resilience, Costa Rica can overcome these challenges and preserve its status as a haven of biodiversity and tranquility. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and for your continued support of this remarkable country.
Agreed Ed. Keep shouting the message!
Global business, trillion dollar retail revenues annually, consumer base nearly 300 million worldwide.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/274688/addicts-and-consumers-of-illegal-drugs-worldwide/
Maybe it's time to do something different. The Global Community can't even stop tankers full of crude oil and gasoline from being successfully smuggled.
Thank you, DC, for sharing your thoughts on the global scale of the illicit drug trade. It is a complex issue, with a vast consumer base and significant revenues driving the market. Your point about the challenges in stopping even large-scale smuggling operations highlights the difficulty in addressing this problem. It seems clear that traditional approaches may not be enough, and perhaps it's time to explore new strategies that focus on reducing demand and addressing the socio-economic factors at play. Your insights add an important perspective to this ongoing conversation.
Yes, but I've been hearing that for the past 50 years. (Except for that last line.)
We need to open a thorough discussion of where the costs of prohibiting illicit drugs--in effect turning the trillion-dollar business in the commodities over to a price-supported monopoly run by career criminals and the corruptions of hidden wealth--exceed the costs of drug abuse and addiction. Not a perfunctory discussion, stuffed with dismissive strawperson arguments and vague sweeping generalities. A candid discussion, built on a foundation of knowledge rather than myths and wishful thinking.
I keep hearing and reading news media op-eds and popular discourse--and a few elected officeholders, the only people with the power to craft policy changes--exclaiming that "the war on drugs has failed." Sometimes that statement is offered along with some useful policy suggestions or reforms. But nothing less than a thorough review and overhaul of legal prohibitions and regulation will productively address this situation, and no one in power in public life has yet broached that prospect as a call for official hearings.
The current emphasis on one-policy-fits-all prohibition has done more to empower transnational organized crime and gangs than any other single factor. The vastness of the illicit trade and the power of the syndicates who run it is responsible for the functional breakdown of the H2-A guest worker program, particularly between the US and Mexico; it's been a primary driver of uninvited immigration from Mexico and Central America across the US southern border for the past quarter-century; the control of much of rural Mexico by well-armed criminal paramilitary gangs has led to a massive expansion of another industry- the inhumane, fraud-ridden business of human trafficking; the illicit trade has corrupted the top reaches of governments all over Latin America for the past half-century; the adverse environmental impacts of illicit drug crops, clandestine chemical refining, transportation routes, and the undermining of the ethos of social responsibility by the lucrative rewards of the illicit trade have been polluting, eroding, and dewatering natural environments from Bolivia to Canada. The illicit smuggling networks also enable a parallel trade in endangered species, severely hampering effective interdiction in the process.
None of that is new, either. The end-stage impacts at the US end have been manifest on a wide and deep scale for over 25 years (although there's an increasingly loud outcry condemning the most visible end-stage impacts, as if that situation just showed up out of nowhere between 3 and 15 years ago.) Those impacts are the result of a situation of political corruption south of the border--enabled by illicit drugs trade profits, and sometimes aided by a corrupt regime of American banking regulation and enforcement--for more than 50 years.
But those realities are too uncomfortable to bring up, in the country that drove the first international bans on the trade in these substances 125 years ago. Beginning with conventions that sought to ban the opium trade, and pursued in alliance with Imperial Great Britain. Ironically, both US and UK mercantile interests had enriched themselves with the opium trade throughout the 19th century. The international bans- pursued first through multinational agreements, and later through institutions like the League of Nations and the UN- later spread to cover opioids, cocaine, cannabis, and an array of synthetic drugs, through the 1961 UN Single Convention and later amendments that were proposed and ratified in the early 1970s.
The result has been folly, corruption, and deception. Including self-deception. Compounded several times over. I think that it's vitally important to have some sort of global rule of law. But the priority emphasis needs to be on protecting the resources of the natural world--beginning with effective enforcement of commercial fishing, and a global effort to stop the pollution of oceans and waterways, and reverse its effects. The historic emphasis on prioritizing broad-based criminal prohibitions of the drugs trade emphasizes the worst, most dystopian aspects of "Global Law Enforcement"--applied as an exercise in futility and corruption to address a problem that's trivial in comparison with commercial fisheries poaching and the nonconsensual poisoning of the planet with plastics and toxic chemicals, which has skyrocketed over the previous decades to an extent that far surpasses the increased global demand for forbidden substances.
DC, hank you for sharing such a comprehensive perspective on the complexities surrounding drug prohibition and its wide-ranging impacts!! Your insights highlight the need for a more nuanced and informed discussion about the costs and consequences of current policies. It's clear that the issue is deeply intertwined with broader socio-economic and environmental challenges, and addressing it requires a multifaceted approach.
The points you raise about the empowerment of organized crime, the environmental impacts, and the historical context of drug prohibition provide valuable context for understanding why a reevaluation of current strategies is necessary. It's crucial to move beyond simplistic solutions and engage in candid discussions that consider all aspects of this global issue!
Your call for a thorough review and overhaul of legal prohibitions is timely, and it's important for policymakers to consider these perspectives as they work towards more effective solutions. Thank you for contributing to this important conversation and encouraging a deeper exploration of these critical issues!
The discussion of undoing some of the legal regime isn't as taboo as it was for the generations who first made the rules. But actual leadership is rare in the political class; the representatives of democracies often need to be pressured into action by a fed-up citizenry. Which is what needs to happen.
I have a personal history of illicit substance use. But I'm a real square outlier, in some respects: when I found out who was running Bolivia in the aftermath of the August 1980 coup, I adopted a personal policy of abstaining from cocaine. I've been prescribed opioids for acute pain, but I use the minimum amount, and when the condition is resolved, that's the end of it.
If I wanted to buy a prohibited substance from an illicit source, I could probably find a source for most of them--in some form--within a day or two. I mean, just go to the right bar or nightclub, and ask around. But between the newly legal availability of cannabis and the spread of fentanyl contamination, I'm entirely out of the underground market. A decision apparently shared by more and more of today's teenagers; although the news media rarely speaks of it, use of opioids has dropped by around 2/3 among young Americans over the previous ten years. Although TV news clips and print reports where I live give splashy headline play to every single overdose by a high school student--even a nonfatal overdose--the vast majority of the opioid overdose crisis is driven by confirmed addicts, mostly older Americans who picked up their dependency from the diversion market in laxly regulated prescription pills that existed prior to the newly effective organized central tracking database, and the DEA crackdown that began around 2014. Which is what accounts for the now-booming street market in fentanyl. a substance that is now cheaper than beer in some places, but which is having trouble attracting a new consumer base nonetheless. https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/price-of-illicit-fentanyl-drops-to-dangerously-cheap-in-twin-cities-metro/
Overall, a logical, predictable chain of consequences.
This is heartbreaking. I respect the conservation efforts of Costa Rica. It is alarming to see the cartel infiltration but it seems organized crime is the theme of the times.
Nessa, it is heartbreaking. Still, Costa Rica's resilience and dedication to preserving its natural beauty offers hope. With continued support, we can hope they are able to overcome these obstacles and maintain its leadership in environmental protection.
It is very optimistic to think we can push back against the power and greed that is the cartel industry (or any industry really). Do you know if there have been historical examples of such an occurrence in modern human history? Or do you believe this can be a first?
I am just curious as I am not well informed of cartel happenings just that they tend to symbolize dominion and destruction. I wonder if they own the government of CR like they do in other countries. I wonder what Christiana Figueres stance is on the issue?
Interestingly tonight Trump said the only way to stop drug trafficking is with the death penalty. Sounds plausible, if the consequences of your actions, is death, maybe no one will want the job of distributing drugs. Sounds harsh, but the alternative is worse for the victims of drugs. Slow tortured lives.
TXR, true, it may be time to consider a broader range of perspectives and solutions when tackling such a multifaceted problem.