Dangerous Harvest: Drug Plants and the Transformation of Indigenous Landscapes

Michael K. Steinberg, Joseph J. Hobbs, Kent Mathewson9780195143195, 0-19-514319-1

Throughout history almost all traditional indigenous societies have used psychoactive substances derived from plants in religious and healing rituals. Once such plants are adopted by outsiders for profane use, the often impoverished peasant farmers who grow them are faced with a life of extreme poverty or are lured by the prospect of a very lucrative cash crop with a steady market. Before long, their cultural and physical landscape is drastically altered. The purpose of this book is to explore this issue from a variety of perspectives, ranging from opium production in Afghanistan and Pakistan to peyote gardens in south Texas.

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Table of contents :
EEn……Page 1
Dangerous Harvest: Drug Plants and the Transformation of Indigenous Landscapes……Page 2
Copyright Info……Page 5
TOC……Page 6
Contributors……Page 8
Introduction……Page 11
I – Background Issues……Page 17
1 – Drugs, Moral Geographies, And Indigenous Peoples: Some Initial Mappings And Central Issues……Page 19
De.nitions……Page 21
Distributions……Page 23
Drugs—de.nitions And Numbers……Page 24
Drug Use—a Cultural Universal?……Page 26
Drugs And Indigenous Moral Geographies……Page 28
2 – The Stimulus Of Prohibition – A Critical History of the Global Narcotics Trade……Page 32
Free Trade In Opium……Page 41
The Prohibition Regime……Page 47
Cold War Expansion……Page 50
Bilateral Suppression In The 1970s……Page 54
Rising Harvests Of The 1980s……Page 58
Declaring War On Cocaine……Page 63
Asian Drug Proliferation In The 1990s……Page 66
Latin America In The 1990s……Page 93
Conclusion……Page 98
II – Case Studies……Page 121
Background……Page 123
The Agroeconomics Of Opium In Laos……Page 125
Pros And Cons Of Opium Agriculture: The Farmer’s Perspective……Page 127
Opium Economics……Page 128
Commerce……Page 129
Epidemiology Of Opium Addiction In Laos……Page 130
Natural Courses Of Opium Addiction……Page 131
Treatment Approaches For Opiate Addiction……Page 133
The Politics Of Poppy, Opium, And Addiction……Page 135
Conclusion……Page 137
Post-taliban Production……Page 141
Mountain Cropping Systems……Page 142
Stimulants And Depressants……Page 144
Other Intoxicants……Page 145
Historical Context……Page 146
Opium Cultivation……Page 148
Afghanistan……Page 151
Summary……Page 156
5 – The State And The Ongoing Struggle Over Coca In Bolivia – Legitimacy, Hegemony, and the Exercise of Power……Page 161
The Struggle Over Coca And The Arming Of The State In The 1980s……Page 162
State Repression And The Onslaught Against Coca Growers, 1997–2000……Page 166
Conclusion……Page 171
6 – The Marijuana Milpa – Agricultural Adaptations in a Postsubsistence Maya Landscape in Southern Belize……Page 175
Cultural Economic Background Of The Maya Landscape In Southern Belize……Page 176
Recent History Of The Marijuana Economy In Southern Belize……Page 177
The Boom Turns Bust……Page 182
Cultural Consequences Of The Marijuana Boom……Page 185
Lessons And Larger Implications Of The Marijuana Economy In Southern Belize……Page 186
7 – Sacred And Profane Uses Of The Cactus Lophophora Williamsii From The South Texas Peyote Gardens……Page 190
Nature Of Intoxication By Peyote……Page 195
The Ritual Described……Page 197
Diffusion Of Peyote Use And Creation Of Cult And Religion……Page 199
Secular, Or “profane,” Uses Of Peyote……Page 203
Growth Of The Religious Movement Among Non-indians……Page 207
Implications……Page 208
8 – Desert Traffic – The Dynamics of the Drug Trade in Northwestern Mexico……Page 217
The Rarámuri: Cultivation In The Sierra Madres……Page 219
The Tohono: Desert Crossroads……Page 221
Conclusion……Page 224
III – History And Drug Plants……Page 227
9 – Cannabis In Colonial India – Production, State Intervention, and Resistance in the Late Nineteenth-Century Bengali Landscape……Page 229
Consumers And Markets……Page 230
Cultivation And The Physical Transformation Of The Landscape……Page 231
Resistance And The Imaginative Transformation Of The Landscape……Page 233
Conclusion……Page 238
10 – Suppressing Opium And “reforming” Minorities – Antidrug Campaigns in Ethnic Communities in the Early People’s Republic of China……Page 240
Opium And The Jiayin Erlunchun Community……Page 241
Opium And Liangshan Yi Society……Page 244
The Antiopium Campaign In Liangshan: 1950 –1959……Page 245
Opium Suppression In The Aba Tibetan Area In The 1950s……Page 248
Conclusion……Page 250
IV – Environmental Issues……Page 255
11 – Environmental And Social Consequences Of Coca/cocaine In Peru – Policy Alternatives and a Research Agenda……Page 257
Coca/cocaine……Page 258
Geopolitics And The Spread Of Coca/cocaine In Peru……Page 261
Social Consequences And Local Landscapes……Page 264
Environmental Consequences……Page 268
Conclusions……Page 269
12 – Modern Use And Environmental Impact Of The Kava Plant In Remote Oceania……Page 282
Origins And Dispersal Of Kava In Remote Oceania……Page 284
Traditional Uses……Page 286
Present Use By Indigenous Peoples In Remote Oceania……Page 287
Case Study Of Pohnpei Island, Federated States Of Micronesia……Page 291
History Of Kava Use On Pohnpei……Page 293
Commercialization……Page 295
Early Conservation Interventions……Page 296
Addressing A “killer Threat”……Page 297
Conclusions……Page 298
13 – The Global Nexus Of Drug Cultivation And Consumption……Page 302
The Beauty And The Beast……Page 303
Indigenous Peoples And Drugs……Page 304
Why Users Use; Why Growers Grow; Why Traf.ckers Traf.c……Page 305
Social And Material Changes……Page 308
The Drug Landscape……Page 309
The Hydra……Page 311
Drugs, Laws, And The State……Page 313
Meanwhile, Back In The Fields . . …….Page 315
Recommendations……Page 316
Where To From Here?……Page 318
Index……Page 321