COLOMBIA
Less Coca in Colombia Means Nothing for Your Supply
You might think that less coca must mean less cocaine coming out of South America, translating to less cocaine on the streets of places like New York and London. Well, not necessarily. It’s complicated, according to the people who know about this sort...
Peasant Farmers in Colombia Are Being Killed for Their Land
The day before we set off for Catatumbo, Colombia’s ministry of defense tried to intimidate us into changing our minds. We received several emails and were invited to a personal meeting, where we were warned that our safety among the region's locals...
It’s Good to Be the King
I was traveling with Arjan Roskam, self-described “King of Cannabis,” through the mountains and jungles of Colombia, along with a crew of international pot growers he calls the “Strain Hunters.” We were searching for three exceptional but elusive...
Even Kids Can Practice Shooting Drug Traffickers at Colombia's Military Air Show
Welcome to F-AIR, Colombia's bi-annual military air show, a place where Limp Bizkit is still used as pump up music, Canada has the biggest plane, and kids can pretend to shoot grenade launchers at drug traffickers.
New Cocaine Routes Are Ruining West Africa
At the end of June, the UN held its annual International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Yury Fedotov, head of the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime, gave a speech in which he mentioned that the cocaine trade in Africa is growing, "fueling...
In Colombia, Lawmakers Debate Making Ecstasy Legal
A new drug bill, put forth by the South American country's Ministry of Justice, proposes to regulate (not ban) the personal consumption of ecstasy and other synthetic drugs. The possibility pleases drug users, satisfies many drug experts, and alarms...
Killing Them Softly
The Russian was 13 years old when he first killed a man. He has no regrets about it; the man he killed had mistreated his little sister. He built a weapon called a chupa chupa—a blade tied to a length of PVC pipe—and plunged it into his victim’s neck...
I Learned How to Make Blow in Colombia
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Colombia is the world’s biggest producer of cocaine, providing around 80 percent of the whole planet’s supply. In true entrepreneurial spirit, mom and pop coke shops, or “kitchens,” pepper the countryside, churning...
World Peace Update
This is our 10th instalment of watching the world continuously and without fail fuck itself up the ass. This week, the world's downtrodden citizens decided to fight back and give the man a taste of his own medicine. Well, at least that's what the...
One Thousand Dollars for the Severed Head of Any Policeman
Colombian drug cartels have the strangest ways of dealing with loss.
The Downsides Of Cocaine
A few weeks ago I got a call from my dad saying my cousin had been murdered in a Colombian cartel slaying. He was found in a jeep abandoned on a highway, its engine still running, along with two other bodies.