Cocaine: From Coca Fields to the Streets

Cocaine explores the contemporary production, transit, and consumption of cocaine throughout the Americas, examining how government agents, criminal actors, and local communities manage the flow of illicit drugs for profit and order.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 376 pages
Publication date: 11 November 2021
Publisher: Duke University Press

Cocaine, a highly addictive drug, has had a profound impact on societies throughout the Americas. Its production, transit, and consumption have become intertwined with the illicit economy, creating complex dynamics within local communities. In this collection of essays, experts analyze the contemporary landscape of cocaine production, transit, and consumption in the Americas. Through in-depth interviews and archival research, they explore how government agents, both within and outside the law, and criminal actors strive to manage the flow of illicit drugs to maintain order and generate profits.

The essays cover a wide range of topics, including the moral economy of coca cultivation in Bolivia, the role of criminal organizations and drug traffickers in Mexico, and the routes cocaine takes as it enters and traverses Guatemala. The contributors demonstrate how entire ways of life have been built around cocaine commodification, shaping social structures, economic activities, and cultural practices. They also consider how the authority of state actors is coupled with the self-regulating practices of drug producers, traffickers, and dealers, complicating notions of governance and the relationships between economic and moral economies.

The collection also outlines a more progressive drug policy that recognizes the important role drugs play in the lives of those at the urban and rural margins. It advocates for harm reduction strategies, drug treatment programs, and social support services to address the root causes of drug use and addiction. By examining the complex dynamics of cocaine production, transit, and consumption in the Americas, this collection provides valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities facing policymakers, law enforcement agencies, and communities in the region.

Enrique Desmond Arias, Lilian Bobea, Philippe Bourgois, Anthony W. Fontes, Robert Gay, Paul Gootenberg, Romain Le Cour Grandmaison, Thomas Grisaffi, Laurie Kain Hart, Annette Idler, George Karandinos, Fernando Montero, Dennis Rodgers, Taniele Rui, Cyrus Veeser, and Autumn Zellers-León are the contributors to this collection.

Weight: 548g
Dimension: 152 x 229 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781478014652