http://www.boston.com/dailynews/253/world/Coffee_crisis_pushes_Colombian:.shtml

Coffee crisis pushes Colombian growers into heroin poppies

By Susannah A. Nesmith, Associated Press, 9/10/2001 22:02

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) Some Colombian coffee growers have switched to raising heroin poppies because of the global coffee crisis, the United Nation's anti-narcotics representative said Monday.

World coffee prices have dropped to record lows, leaving many growers in Colombia, Central America, Kenya and other traditional coffee-producing areas unable to make a profit.

Klaus Nyholm, head of the U.N. Drug Control Program in Colombia, said coffee growers have turned to growing poppies in addition to maintaining their coffee plants. Both thrive in cool mountain climates.

The Coffee Growers Federation says it is also aware of Colombian coffee growers switching to poppy.

''When coffee loses it's profitability, you run the risk that the people will turn to other crops, illegal crops,'' said Edgar Echeverry, of the Coffee Growers Federation.

New crops of poppy have sprung up in traditional coffee-growing areas such as Huila and Tolima states, Nyholm said.

The U.N. doesn't have precise figures on how many acres are planted in poppy, Nyholm said. The U.S. Embassy said it also lacks figures, but noted production seems to be increasing.

While it's relatively easy to locate fields of coca the main ingredient of cocaine poppies grow on steep mountainsides, often in smaller plots, and in areas that are often wreathed in clouds, making them hard to detect by satellites or aerial photographs.

Colombia produces most of the heroin used in the United States and more than 80 percent of the world's cocaine.

-- Anonymous, September 11, 2001

Answers

Amazing, isn't it? The cost of coffee at the supermarket is the same.

-- Anonymous, September 11, 2001

"The cost of coffee at the supermarket is the same."

Same as what, pray tell? I'm still coaxing Dad into finishing off the y2k supply.

-- Anonymous, September 11, 2001