Biden Signs Bill to Study Illicit Drug Financing, Colombian Coca Company Sues Coca-Cola in Trademark Fight, More... (9/16/24)

The White House has released its annual list of international drug war scofflaws, cartel faction violence continues in Sinaloa, and more.

Coca Nasa products. The company is suing Coca-Cola over trademark issues. (Coca Nasa)

Drug Policy

Biden Signs Bill to Study Financing of Illegal Synthetic Drugs. Last Friday, President Joe Biden (D) signed into law HR 1076, the "Preventing the Financing of Illegal Synthetic Drugs Act," which requires the Government Accountability Office to carry out a study on illicit financing in connection with the trafficking of synthetic drugs.

Introduced by Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-TX), the bill sailed through both chambers of Congress, moving through various committees with nary a no vote and passing out of committees on unanimous consent motions.

The Congressional Research Service summary of the bill says it will require the GAO to "carry out a study on illicit financing in connection with the trafficking of synthetic drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, fentanyl- and methamphetamine-related substances, Captagon, and fentanyl and methamphetamine precursors, and to report to Congress."

Foreign Policy

Biden Administration Designates Bolivia, Burma, Venezuela as Having Failed to Follow to US Drug Policies. In its annual Memorandum on the Presidential Determination on Major Drug Transit or Major Illicit Drug Producing Countries, the White House listed 23 countries as "major drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries (including countries that are a significant direct source of precursor chemicals used in the production of certain drugs and substances significantly affecting the United States)," but only named three of them -- Bolivia, Burma and Venezuela -- as "having failed demonstrably during the previous 12 months to both adhere to their obligations under international counternarcotics agreements and to take the measures required by section 489(a)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act."

Notably, all three countries are political foes of the United States; Bolivia and Venezuela because of their leftist governments and Burma because of its brutal military dictatorship. While all three countries are involved in the illicit drug trade, their roles pale in comparison to countries that were not cited as "having failed demonstrably" to advance US drug policy objectives, such as Colombia and Mexico.

The countries named as major drug transit or illicit drug producing countries are Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Burma, the People's Republic of China (PRC), Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.

Even though the administration names Bolivia, Burma, and Venezuela as drug war scofflaws, it is not barring any foreign assistance to those countries because "I have also determined, in accordance with provisions of section 706(3)(A) of the FRAA, that United States programs that support Bolivia, Burma, and Venezuela are vital to the national interests of the United States," Biden wrote in the memo.

International

Colombian Coca Company Challenges Coca-Cola's Trademark. Coca Nasa, a quarter-century old company making coca-based energy drinks, beers, and liquors is suing Coca-Cola to have its century-old trademark on the word "coca" removed. Coca Nasa says the effort is the result of repeated bullying by Coca-Cola over use of the term in Coca Nasa's products.

Coca Nasa says it is acting "in defense of the coca leaf" and that extending trademark protecting to Coca-Cola "the fundamental rights of Indigenous peoples." The mechanism has been used "abusively" by Coca- and should be rescinded.

Motivating the action, Coca Nasa says, is what it calls a history of Coca-Cola bullying smaller businesses into capitulating to its demands.

"This is as if David and Goliath were battling over colonialism," said David Curtidor, cofounder of Coca Nasa. "These business giants arrive thinking they're entitled to our cultural heritage and that they can then demand that we stop using it. What we're saying is: 'We've had enough.'"

Coca-Cola responded with the following brief statement: "The Coca-Cola Company respects all communities and their traditions as well as the laws and regulations of each country where it operates."

Curtido said he and his business partner founded the company "show the other face of coca and help it shed its dirty image." The 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs considers the plant a drug and requires the "uprooting of all coca bushes which grow wild" and bans the distribution of products with even trace amounts of the plant. But Coca-Cola operates through a loophole that allows leaves to be sold internationally if the cocaine alkaloid is distilled to make a "flavoring agent."

"And this is all incredibly ironic and hypocritical, because we've had our products banned and our cultural heritage destroyed while Coca-Cola has been allowed to continue selling without issues," Curtidor said.

To add insult to injury, Coca-Cola filed trademark infringement lawsuits against Coca Nasa in 2007 over its Coca Sek energy drink and again with the recent release of Coca Pola, "pola" being a Colombian slang term for beer. Coke demanded that Coca Nasa "cease and desist permanently from using the name Coca Pola or any similar term that could be confused with the commercial brands" it owned. Though Coca Pola rhymes with Coca-Cola, Curtidor insisted that it was just "the obvious way to name a beer made with coca." Coke said Coca Nasa had ten days to act.

"That's when we went, 'Actually, no. You are the one who has ten days to explain who gave you permission to use the coca plant and who gave you permission to use the name of a key element of our culture in your products,'" Curtido said. "We sent them a letter to that effect and, well, they never responded."

So, now Coca Nasa has asked Colombia's trademark agency to intervene. Stay tuned.

Mexico's Sinaloa Sees More Deaths in Cartel Faction Fights. At least 15 people have been killed in fighting between warring factions of the Sinaloa Cartel in the past week, including civilians. And that was before last Saturday when several more people were killed in the state.

The state public security department said Saturday that three civilians were killed in clashes between the army and "armed civilians" and that an additional "two homicides" were reported that day. A day earlier, five people were killed in the town of Concordia, which has been the scene of "violent events" between cartel factions.

The state and federal governments have sent security reinforcements to the capital city of Culiacan in an effort to quell the violence.

The clashes are fallout from the late July kidnapping of Sinaloa Cartel faction leader Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and his delivery to US authorities by one of the sons of imprisoned cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. Guzman's sons lead a rival faction, "los Chapitos."

The United States last Thursday issued a security alert because of "reports of car thefts, gunfire, security forces operations, roadblocks, burning vehicles, and closed roadways" in the vicinity of Culiacan.