Drugs, Violence, and Capitalism: The Expansion of Opioid Use in the Americas

Abstract

In the past two decades, the United States has experienced a rapid rise in the use of opioids by its population, a context that has come to be assessed by the U.S. government as a threat to national and international security that requires emergency measures. The strategies of the U.S. government and transnational pharmaceutical corporations for resolving the insecurity generated by capitalist accumulation constitute what a certain literature calls “pacification.” In addition, these corporations export to the “foreign” the contradictions inherent in the opioid control policy that underlies the capitalist logic of drugs. Thus Latin American populations have been instrumentalized in the “solution” of this crisis either as a focus of violence by the state or as a focus of consumption by the market. Nas últimas duas décadas, os Estados Unidos vivenciaram uma rápida ascensão do uso de opioides pela sua população, contexto que passou a ser avaliado pelo governo estadunidense como uma ameaça à segurança nacional e internacional que demanda medidas emergenciais. As estratégias do Estado estadunidense e das corporações farmacêuticas transnacionais para solucionar a insegurança gerada pela acumulação capitalista configuram o que certa literatura chama “pacificação” Ademais, elas exportam para o “estrangeiro” as contradições próprias da política de controle de opioides que fundamenta a lógica capitalista das drogas. Assim, populações latino-americanas têm sido instrumentalizadas para a “solução” dessa crise, seja como foco da violência pelo Estado, seja como foco do consumo pelo mercado.

Keterlibatan Masyarakat Sebagai Mitra Polisi Dalam Penanganan Narkoba Dusun Pelayang Kecamatan Bathin II Pelayang Kabupaten Bungo

“…Narkotika dalam istilah kedokteran adalah obat yang dapat menghilangkan terutama rasa sakit dan nyeri yang berasal dari daerah viresal atau alat-alat rongga dada dan rongga perut, juga dapat menimbulkan efek stupor atau bengong yang lama dalam keadaan yang masih sadar serta menimbulkan adiksi atau kecanduan (Choo et al, 2021;Mota & Ronzani, 2016;Pereira, 2021;Saefudin, 2020). Mardani, secara umum mereka yang menyalahgunakan narkoba terbagi ke dalam 3 (tiga) golongan, yaitu: a. Ketergantungan primer yaitu penyalahgunaan narkoba ditandai dengan adanya kecemasan depresi dan kepribadian yang tidak stabil.…”

Brasil y el Narcoanálisis

“…Esta perspectiva también si justifica por: 1) el interés y el empleo de drogas psicoactivas por el Estado en programas militares o de investigación policial/espionaje (como el narcoanálisis psicoterapéutico) (Bergen-Cico, 2012;Reiss, 2014); 2) el rol histórico de intervenciones colonialistas o neo-imperialistas bajo la justificación de luchar contra o a favor de un determinado mercado de drogas, como las Guerras del Opio y las intervenciones estadounidenses en América Latina y el Caribe desde los años 1970 (Carneiro, 2018;Escohotado, 1994;Paley, 2014); 3) las implicaciones geopolíticas y económicas distintas entre la economía de las drogas de origen vegetal (cocaína, hachís, heroína) y de las 'drogas de síntesis' producidas en laboratorios (LSD, meta-anfetaminas, MDMA) (Labrousse, 2010); 4) las formas de correlación, equilibrio de poder, interpenetración y simbiosis entre actores vinculados al Estado (policías, militares, magistrados, políticos) y grupos ilegales del narcotráfico (organizaciones criminales, traficantes locales, grupos mayoristas internacionales etc.) (Desmond Arias, 2018;Lessing, 2018); 5) los efectos del mercado ilegal de drogas producidas legalmente -como los opioidesy sus costos sociales y económicos (Pereira, 2021;Quinones, 2015;Donoso, 2015); 6) las variadas formas de 'gubernamentalidad local ilegal' (Rodrigues et al, 2021) regulando la economía y la vida social en comunidades controladas por grupos vinculados al tráfico de drogas; 7) las formas de estructuración operacional de los grupos del narcotráfico -entre oligopolios y 'carteles' -y sus impactos a nivel local, nacional, regional e internacional (Reuter, 1986;Krauthausen y Sarmiento, 1991;Kopp, 2006).…”

U.S. Hegemony in Latin America during an Age of Challenges: The Perception of Threats by the U.S Southern Command

“…Although pressure from the United States was a determining factor in the adoption of the “War on Drugs” paradigm in Latin America, the paradigm was eagerly accepted by the region's military and police (Tokatlian, 2015; Rodrigues, 2012). Different scholars have interpreted it as a form of capitalist expansion and reproduction and as a way of justifying the coercion exercised by the ruling classes (Pereira, 2021; Avilés, 2018). Latin American militaries play a crucial role in the reproduction of capitalism, and military cooperation is one of the mechanisms through which the hegemony and worldview of the United States are transmitted to Latin American countries.…”

“…Although pressure from the United States was a determining factor in the adoption of the “War on Drugs” paradigm in Latin America, the paradigm was eagerly accepted by the region's military and police (Tokatlian, 2015; Rodrigues, 2012). Different scholars have interpreted it as a form of capitalist expansion and reproduction and as a way of justifying the coercion exercised by the ruling classes (Pereira, 2021; Avilés, 2018).…”