What can be done to eliminate coca cultivation in Colombia?

What can be done to eliminate coca cultivation - longer version

The US war on drugs in Colombia has failed to diminish coca and cocaine production. In 1999, it was estimated that Colombia produced 520 metric tons of cocaine. Six years later, cocaine production had risen to 610 metric tons.

An alternative approach would be to focus aid on establishing development projects that are viable in Colombia’s remote drug producing regions. In order to establish effective alternative development projects, it is also essential that a negotiated solution to the country’s armed conflict be achieved. A negotiated peace will require a restructuring of the country’s economy to allow for a dramatic redistribution of wealth in order to reduce the poverty that provides a fertile recruiting ground for drug traffickers.

There also needs to be greater focus placed on treatment programs in user countries. This is particularly crucial in the United States where drug use is primarily viewed as a criminal act rather than a health problem.

The legalization of cocaine should also be studied because it would likely diminish drug-related violence. Instead of spending billions of dollars on prisons and military equipment to fight a war on drugs, that money could be used to fund treatment and education programs in consuming countries and development projects in Colombia.