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Aside from its addictive properties, cocaine is getting a new bad rap. Yes, cocaine is apparently not only bad for you, but it’s hard on the environment as well.

The Register reports:

Snorting cocaine is an environmental crime whatever your views on drug use, scientists declared last week.

A panel of scientists meeting at the Natural History Museum in London last week detailed how the production of the drug and its trafficking affect biodiversity and contribute to climate change.

The production of a gram of cocaine means the destruction of four square metres of Colombian forest, they said, raising the question of which supermodels, popstars and city types should be lined up with hummer drivers and big game hunters in the environmental most-wanted stakes.

Colombia is one of the most biodiverse countries in the planet, and also the biggest cocaine producer. Bad combination.

On the other hand, combating the production of coca plants in the “war on drugs” might be even more environmentally devastating.

Finally, the Colombian government’s efforts to eradicate the plantations only serve to exacerbate the situation. They use planes to spray herbicides over coca plantations, with predictably gruesome consequences for insects, amphibians and other plants in the area. Growers then move to other areas, clear the native vegetation and start all over again.

So readers, put down the nose candy. Back away from the environmentally un-friendly happy dust.  You’ll save a few acres of forest.  Same warning to the DEA, lay off the environmentally devastating herbicides – please?

pic via Wikipedia