Colombia Grows More Drugs Now Than It Did in Pablo Escobar-Era

The Financial Times on Monday revealed that Colombia produces more cocaine now than it did in the early 1990s when drug cartel leader Pablo Escobar was at the height of his notoriety.

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"Colombia is losing the war on drugs. Manual eradicators are in vain because once they have cleared one field, coca growers come back and plant again," Financial Times assured.

Besides, 20 eradicators have been killed and another 200 have been injured or mutilated by anti-crop landmines since 2018.

"From 1993, the year when Pablo Escobar was murdered, to 2000, when U.S.-backed Colombia Plan merged, production has sped up dramatically," Financial Times added.

"Colombia is now the world's leading producer of coca leaf and cocaine," the U.S. outlet reported, adding that the output grew by over 250 percent from 2012 to 2017.

According to the United Nations (UN), Colombia produces 70 percent of the world's drug supply, which is mostly directed towards the U.S..

U.S. authorities informed that 89 percent of the cocaine they seize appears to come from Colombia.  Last year, this South American country intercepted over 500 cocaine tonnes. However, this figure does not even minimally reflect the volume of drugs that the Colombian cartels place in the U.S. market.