The Cocaine Commodity Chain

The cocaine commodity chains play a big role in the history of illicit commodity chains in North America. The origins of the chain begun in the Andes when the drug was found in coca leaves discovered in the 1800’s. In the first paragraph of my essay I’m going to touch on the history of the commodity chain, however my main focus will be on the growth of the chain in North America between 1950 and 2000, the geographical regions, spatial logistics and organization. Alfred Niemann, an Austrian physician, was the first to chemically extract the cocaine from the coca leaf in 1859. In the mid 1800’s, Andes has begun shipping coca over to Germany for pharmaceutical purposes. The production of cocaine for medicinal purposes went through two phases;

How the commodity chain works isn’t only on the product, there’s a responsibility needed to be reached by the organization and geographical sense as well. This however, is more difficult for the cocaine commodity chain because of its illicit status. Geographically, the growth of the coca leaf depends on what it needs to grow, therefore the leaf is grown in Peru and Bolivia. The production of the cocaine was from Cuba and Chile then smuggled into the United States for distribution. The way this commodity chain is spaced out makes a lot of sense. Peru and Bolivia, side by side countries on the coast of South America produce the coca to be shipped along the coast to Cuba and Chile to be processed. By having these places on the coast, it puts transaction costs to a minimum saving them money. By different productions being in different places in order for them to work it labels the cocaine commodity chain as a social division of labour. Once the cocaine was in the United States, there were three main groups. The main man, this guy was responsible for bringing it into the country and making the connection to Southern America to receive their shipment. Then it is brought to the wholesalers. The wholesalers are responsible for distributing large amounts of cocaine to their dealers; who then sell in smaller amounts to consumers.
To conclude, I believe the cocaine commodity chain was very impressive. While the drug was illicit and only consumed by a few percent of the population, the revenue was enormous. By managing to be a successful commodity chain, and drug, cocaine is now the second most common illicit drug in the United