The War on Illegal Drug Production and Trafficking: An Economic Evaluation of Plan Colombia

A large amount of resources have been spent on the "war on drugs" in Colombia under the program "Plan Colombia." However, the amount of cocaine reaching consumer countries remains relatively stable after seven years, and the price of cocaine at different stages has not risen. Thus policies such as this one, aimed at reducing the amount of drugs reaching consumers by curtailing production and trafficking, have been relatively ineffective.

The first independent evaluation of the anti-drug policies implemented under Plan Colombia, The War on Illegal Drug Production and Trafficking: An Economic Evaluation of Plan Colombia evaluates the costs, efficiency, effectiveness, and future prospects of the war against illegal drug production and trafficking under Plan Colombia.

The results from this paper should help policymakers shape more effective (and less costly) anti-drug policies and, hopefully, encourage future research in order to evaluate the costs and benefits of alternative policies, such as demand side controls (treatment and prevention policies) or the legalization (with the appropriate controls) of illegal drugs.

The War on Illegal Drug Production and Trafficking is published by Universidad de los Andes Centro de Estudios sobre Desarrollo Economico (Center of Studies on Economic Development), a grantee of the Open Society Institute.