It's a connection most people don't make, and for a good reason. Why would any drug have effects past one's personal usage?
In reality, cocaine is a popular drug and will stay one. But, I think it's good for people to know some of the untold stories behind what they're using (especially when it has as much of a worldly impact as this).
1. Each gram of cocaine used destroys 4 sq. meters of Amazon rainforest
Lines of coke can add up to more than a gram per night pretty easy, so this statistic is pretty insane to think about.
2. Landmines and labs to process crops kill around 1,000 Colombian civilians annually
These same groups who run the plants cause around 15 million dollars in crime damage per year as well.
3. Close to 300,000 hectares of the Amazon has been destroyed to clear space for plant production
That adds up to 250 million trees being cut down in one of the highest biodiversity areas on the planet.
4. Where there are illegal coca farms, there are normally hundreds of acres of unregulated deforestation to plant agriculture for the farmers of the coca
This happens often in ecologically sensitive, remote areas where they won't be discovered until they've moved on to the next location.
5. 95% of the United State's cocaine is imported from these forests in Colombia
So, we're a little bit tied into the overseas environmental mess.
6. Land layover used by these groups has put close to 7% of the world's biodiversity at risk
There are quite a few species in these forests that were already endangered, and now with their homes being cut down, it's amplified the extinction risk.