The manufacture of cocaine has a strong impact on the environmental quality of natural areas. Its culture nibbles away at wooded areas. If a gram of cocaine costs on average 68€ (in France), it also costs the planet 4m2 of green space
The destructive effects of drugs on the environment are somewhat forgotten in favor of those on human health: overdose, addiction…
There is obviously no mention of illegal coca cultivation in any environmental protection plan. Worse, the surfaces are overexploited, impoverished and polluted with pesticides.
The psychotropic substances are extracted from the leaves by chemical processes (acetone, gasoline…) whose effluents poison the rivers and lands around.
As cocaine consumers rarely live in the production areas, the substance is transported over several thousand kilometers by private means (helicopter, private jet…) with a significant carbon footprint.
Cocaine is not the only incriminated drug, the production of one kilo of amphetamine rejects 30 kg of toxic waste and the culture of cannabis consumes twice as much water as that of tomages.
Source : Slate
