Opium Strategy
The eradication of opium poppy through aerial and ground eradication programs together with alternative development efforts have resulted in a 68 percent drop in poppy cultivation in Colombia since 2001. To put further pressure on heroin traffickers, President Uribe has advanced an initiative to seize farms involved in the cultivation of illicit crops, especially poppy. With continued assistance from our foreign counterparts, the strategy moving forward will be an intensified 5-pronged attack program:
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Eradication of opium poppy in Colombia and Mexico (with an eye to nascent cultivation in Peru).
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Law enforcement attack of the heroin trafficking organizations in Colombia and Mexico (supported by enhanced law enforcement intelligence collection and analysis).
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Heroin interdiction at the departure airports in Colombia, elsewhere in South America, and Mexico.
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Heroin interdiction at the arrival airports on the U.S. east coast and other key locations.
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Increased law enforcement attack of the heroin organizations in the U.S. (supported by enhanced law enforcement intelligence collection and analysis).
In Peru, a reliable estimate of opium cultivation and yield is currently unavailable and there is no clear way to measure the size of the threat. Peru's potential opium growing area is about 20,000 square miles in mountainous areas; the fields we do know about are small, scattered, and in remote locations. In 2004, the Peruvian counternarcotics police eradicated 98 hectares of opium and seized 285 kilos of opium latex. Our Embassy in Lima with Peru's counternarcotics police plan to conduct reconnaissance for likely areas to plant opium, routes used to move opium products, and collection points. We are working with the Department of State and our Embassy in Lima on a multi-step opium plan that initially determines the threat. The Andean Counterdrug Initiative has made a demonstrable impact on opium—according to the most recent DEA figures from its Heroin Signature Program, the average wholesale purity of South American heroin seized in the U.S. has fallen 17 percent since 2000 (from 86.9 percent to 72.4 percent in 2004).
Last Updated: May 12, 2005
