Drug Control: Coca Cultivation and Eradication Estimates in Colombia Page: 1 of 11
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&GAO
Accountability * Integrity * Reliability
United States General Accounting Office
Washington, DC 20548
January 8, 2003
The Honorable Charles H. Taylor
House of Representatives
Subject: Drug Control: Coca Cultivation and Eradication Estimates in Colombia
Dear Mr. Taylor:
Colombia is the world's leading producer and distributor of cocaine and a significant
supplier of heroin to the United States. According to the Department of State,
Colombia provides about 90 percent of the cocaine entering the United States and
approximately two-thirds of the heroin found on the East Coast. A key objective of
the U.S. counternarcotics strategy is to assist Colombia in its efforts to reduce the
amount of illicit drug crops being cultivated in the country. Under the Department of
State's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, the Office of
Aviation supports the Colombian National Police's efforts to eradicate coca and
opium poppy through aerial eradication.1
In March 2002, the Executive Office of the President, Office of National Drug Control
Policy (ONDCP), reported that coca cultivation in Colombia increased by 25 percent
between 2000 and 2001-from 136,200 hectares2 to 169,800 hectares-despite
Colombian eradication efforts. These estimates were prepared by the U.S. Director
of Central Intelligence, Crime and Narcotics Center (CNC).3 However, U.S. Embassy
in Bogota officials questioned the reported increase, noting that the number of
hectares of coca the Office of Aviation estimated eradicated in 2001 had increased
substantially over previous years.4 As the result of earlier concerns about the coca
cultivation estimates in Colombia, in November 2001, ONDCP had initiated an
evaluation of CNC and the Office of Aviation methodologies for estimating coca
'The leaves of the coca plant are the raw ingredient of cocaine and opium poppy is used to produce
heroin. The plants are sprayed from low-flying airplanes with an herbicide that attacks the root
system.
2A hectare is 2.47 acres.
3CNC's estimates are presented in its report titled Latin American Narcotics Cultivation and
Production, Estimates 2001 (Washington, D.C.: March 2002).
4At about the same time, the government of Colombia's coca cultivation estimate for the same period
showed a net decrease of 11 percent. The Colombian government numbers are from the United
Nations' Drug Control Program's report Colombia: Annual Coca Cultivation Survey2001 (Bogota:
March 2002).GAO-03-319R Coca Estimates in Colombia
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United States. General Accounting Office. Drug Control: Coca Cultivation and Eradication Estimates in Colombia, text, January 8, 2003; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc302161/m1/1/: accessed March 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.