Peru burns four tons of seized drugs

CNN
November 29, 2001

Peru burns four tons of seized drugs

                 LIMA, Peru (Reuters) -- Peru, the world's No. 2 cocaine producer, burned
                 more than four tons of drugs seized since July, including more than one ton
                 of processed cocaine, the government said on Thursday.

The cache of drugs was seized "by Peru's national police in interdiction operations,"
the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The drugs seized totaled 9,592 pounds (4,360 kg) and also included two metric
tons of semi-processed cocaine and some 1,540 pounds (700 kg) of marijuana.

                 Peru has slipped from being the world's largest producer of coca, the raw material
                 for cocaine, to its second-largest. Neighboring Colombia took over the dubious title
                 of top global producer in 1998.

                 Peru was praised as an international model in the 1990s for its crackdown on
                 drugs, but the government of President Alejandro Toledo, who took office in July,
                 has said the industry could shoot up again.

                 Last year, Peru had an estimated 86,500 acres (34,600 hectares) of coca
                 cultivation, according to government estimates, down from 284,170 acres (113,670
                 hectares) in 1995.

But analysts say state estimates are low and coca cultivation could instead reach
173,000 acres (70,000 hectares) this year.

                 Toledo's government, which estimates that Peru's drug trade generates more than
                 $600 million a year, has appointed a new drug czar and has said it will shun
                 controversial chemical crop-spraying schemes to curb cultivation.

It instead aims to curb the drug cultivation problem with crop-substitution
programs and by digging up plants by hand.