By Youri Kemp
Caribbean News Now associate managing editor
[email protected]
WASHINGTON, USA – The 2018 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), Volume One on Chemical and Drug Control, published by the US State Department, has listed The Bahamas, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica as “Major Illicit Drug Producing and Major Drug-Transit Countries.” Also, on the list are the Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama along with regional neighbours Venezuela and Columbia.
The report classifies that a major illicit drug producing country is one in which:
(A) 1,000 hectares or more of illicit opium poppy is cultivated or harvested during a year;
(B) 1,000 hectares or more of illicit coca is cultivated or harvested during a year; or
(C) Five thousand hectares or more of illicit cannabis is cultivated or harvested during a year unless the president determines that such illicit cannabis production does not significantly affect the United States.
Also, a major drug-transit country is one:
(A) that is a significant direct source of illicit narcotic or psychotropic drugs or other controlled substances significantly affecting the United States;
(B) through which are transported such drugs or substances.
Of all of the countries on the list, some 22 of them, US President Donald Trump has designated that Bolivia and Venezuela have “failed demonstrably” during the previous 12 months to adhere to their obligations under international counter-narcotics agreements.
