Book Reviews : Drugs, Crime and Corruption by Richard Clutterbuck. London: Macmillan, 1995. 240 pp
| Published date | 01 April 1996 |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711789601300108 |
| Date | 01 April 1996 |
| Author | Alison Jamieson |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
103
Drugs,
Crime
and
Corruption
by
Richard
Clutterbuck.
London:
Macmillan,
1995.
240
pp.
A
study
by
the
Bogota
school
of
medicine
in
Colombia
has
found
that
every
24
hours
anoth-
er
130
people
in
that
country
start
using
drugs.
Of
the
130, 70
per
cent
are
between
the
ages
of
12
and
17.
In
Pakistan
there
were
approximately
30,000
heroin
addicts
ten
years
ago;
today
the
figure
has
risen
to
at
least
1.5
million
and
is
expected
to
increase
by
another
mil-
lion
by
the
year
2000.
Research
undertaken
in
New
York
City
has
shown
that
over
80
per
cent
of
cases
of
heterosexual
transmission
of
the
HIV
virus
involved
a
drug
injection
some-
where
along
the
line.
The
World
Health
Organization
estimates
that
whereas
9
million
peo-
ple
were
carriers
of
the
HIV
virus
in
1990,
the
number
could reach
26
million
by
the
year
2000.
According
to
some
estimates,
the
money
laundered
from
drugs
alone
amounts
to
$120
billion
annually
in
Europe
and
North
America;
whilst
globally,
illicit
capital
available
for
laundering
each
year
is
thought
to
be
at
least
$500
billion -
equivalent
to
nearly
10
per
cent
of
the
US
GDP
and
considerably
more
than
the
earnings
of
many
smaller
countries.
Professional
money
laundering
is
now
the
fastest-growing
criminal
profession,
with
premi-
ums
having
risen
from
6
per
cent
a
few
years
ago
to
a
current
maximum
of
26
per
cent,
much
of
it
taking
place
through
the
70
off-shore
centres
scattered
around
the
world.
No
nation,
however
remote
a
corner
of
the
globe
it
occupies,
however
robust
its
democ-
racy,
is
immune
to
the
adverse
consequences
of
drug
abuse
and
trafficking,
although
coun-
tries
whose
social
and
institutional
fabric
is
weak
are
particularly
vulnerable.
The
Andean
countries
in
particular
have
suffered
from
the
criminality
associated
with
the
drug
trade,
including
civil
rights
abuses,
political
instability
and
extensive
corruption,
but
also
from
pos-
sibly
irreversible
environmental
damage
in
the
form
of
soil
erosion,
water
pollution
and
deforestation.
Peru’s
Upper
Huallaga
Valley,
heart
of the
coca
industry,
has
as
many
as
300
tree
species
for
every
hectare
of
rain-forest,
compared
to
7-15
in
an
average
temperate
for-
est,
yet
slash
and
burn
clearance
throughout
the
Andes
has
led
to
the
disappearance
of
11
I
million
hectares
of
rain-forest
each
year -
an
area
the
size
of
Britain.
In
his
latest
book
Richard
Clutterbuck
takes
a
close
look
at
the
production
and
distribu-
tion
of
drugs
throughout
the
world
from
source
to
consumer,
and
examines
the
principal
mechanisms
by
which
the
profits
are
laundered.
Wisdom
gained
throughout
a
long
and
dis-
tinguished
military
career
leads
him
to
conclude
that
the
oft-proclaimed
’War
on
Drugs’
has
been
a
dismal
failure.
He
digs
down
deep
into
the
historical,
political
and
socio-economic
conditions
of
one
country
in
particular,
Peru,
and
carefully
analyses
the
growth
of
the
drug
trade.
Dr
Clutterbuck
is
even-handed
in
his
analysis,
illustrating
the
corner
into
which
Peruvian
c~~m~esinos
were
squeezed
by
the
brutalities
of
both
the
army
and
the
Shining
Path
terrorist
group.
Despite
its
illegality,
coca
growing
has
provided
the
basic
necessities
for
eco-
nomic
survival
for
some
250,000
peasants
for
whom
it
is
2-8
times
more
profitable
than
cocoa,
four
times
more
than
rubber
and
40
times
more
than
maize.
Even
so,
the
primary
producers
earn
less
than
one
per
cent
of
cocaine’s
final
value
on
the
streets
of
the
industri-
alized
countries.
He
describes
the
endemic
corruption
in
public
administration
and
the
army,
but
points
out
that
a
two-star
General
would
be
paid
a
mere
$284
per
month
in
1993.
First-hand
experience
gained
on
several
visits
to
the
country,
including
a
risky
trip
into
the
Upper
Huallaga
Valley
and
discussions
with
those
who
led
the
operation
culminating
in
the
arrest
of
Shining
Path’s
charismatic
leader,
Abimael
Guzman,
make
these
chapters
especial-
ly
vivid,
and
emblematic
of
the
impossibly
complex
problems
of
drug
law
enforcement.
Subsequent
chapters
of
the
book
examine
consumer
markets
in
Europe
and
the
United
States,
and
the
role
of
the
major
organized
crime
groups.
The
British
drug
scene,
policy
and
enforcement
strategies
are
discussed
in
the
light
of
the
rigid
’zero
tolerance’
approach
of
the
United
States
and
the
’harm
reduction’
strategies
exemplified
by
Holland.
The
author
points
to
the
eruption
of
drug-related
crime
and
violence
in
the
former
Soviet
Union
with
a
concern
that
is
more
than
borne
out
by
the
available
data -
the
Russian
Interior
Ministry
has
counted
over
5,000
criminal
groups
of
which
at
least
300
are
highly
organized
and
have
dealings
in
some
30
other
countries.
An
estimated
81
per
cent
of
the
voting
shares
in
the
newly
privatized
companies
are
controlled
by
criminals.
According
to
the
Director
of
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