Demand for drugs caused a surge in child labour in Peru
Kids who grew up in coca-growing areas were unusually likely to be imprisoned for murder as adults
Many costs of the illegal drug trade are easy to see. Body counts mount every year from overdoses by consumers and violence among traffickers and dealers. The full damage that the business inflicts, however, is far broader. A recent paper by Maria Micaela Sviatschi of Princeton University shows that demand for coca leaves, from which cocaine is produced, pushed a generation of children in Peru out of school and into lives of crime.
This article appeared in the Graphic detail section of the print edition under the headline “The youngest victims”
Graphic detail October 15th 2022
From the October 15th 2022 edition
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