Will Drugs Legalisation Save Rainforests?
Link between drugs trafficking and deforestation in Central America has been recently revealed by a research published in Science, suggesting that policy reform and possibly legalizing drugs could avert the destruction of rainforests.
When Kendra McSweeney, an associate geology professor at Ohio State University and the lead author of the report travelled to Central America in 2011, she discovered that drug traffickers burn down vast areas of rainforests to create smuggling routes.
It is also a common practice for drug traffickers to pay officials to turn a blind eye as they build plantations and ranches to run money laundering activities. Moreover, because of their violent practices, drug traffickers effectively prevent conservationists from protecting the forest land.
The study authors note that with the limited presence of conservationists, the enforcement of illegal logging and poaching is limited. They suggest that it could be possible to save rainforests with a substantial change in U.S. drug policy, perhaps even legalizing the illegal drugs.
http://www.thealmagest.com/will-drugs-legalisation-save-rainforests/9834