Illegal drug trade in Colombia

Illegal drug trade in Colombia (Spanish: Narcotráfico en Colombia) refers to a practice of Colombian criminal groups of producing and distributing illegal drugs. Colombia has had four major drug trafficking cartels and several bandas criminales, or BACRIMs which eventually created a new social class and influenced several aspects of Colombian culture and politics.

The Colombian government efforts to reduce the influence of drug-related criminal organizations is one of the origins of the Colombian conflict, an ongoing low-intensity war among rival narcoparamilitary groups, guerrillas and drug cartels fighting each other to increase their influence and against the Colombian government that struggles to stop them.

Coca, marijuana and other drugs had been part of the lifestyle of some Colombians, but the worldwide demand of psychoactive drugs during the 1960s and 1970s eventually increased the production and processing of these in Colombia. Cocaine is produced at $1500/kilo in jungle labs and could be sold on the streets of America for as much as $50,000/kilo. The initial boom in production of drugs in Colombia for export began with marijuana in the 1960s, followed by cocaine in the mid- to late-1970s. The USA intervened in Colombia throughout this period in an attempt to cut off the supply of these drugs to the US. The drug barons of Colombia, such as Pablo Escobar and Jose Rodriguez Gacha were long considered by authorities to be among the most dangerous, wealthy and powerful men in the world.

As of 2013, studies show that Colombia is the world's largest cocaine producer.

Since the establishment of the War on Drugs, the United States and European countries have provided financial, logistical, tactical and military aid to the government of Colombia in order to implement plans to combat the illegal drug trade. The most notable of these programs has been the Plan Colombia which also intended to combat leftist organizations, such as the FARC guerrillas, who have controlled many coca-growing regions in Colombia over the past decades.

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