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US Report: Colombia Coca Production Surges to Record High

by Associated Press

   BOGOTA, COLOMBIA --

   A new White House report finds that cultivation of the plant used to
   make cocaine has reached an all-time high in Colombia.

   Annual data released Monday indicates Colombia's coca cultivation
   increased 11 percent to 209,000 hectares (807 square miles) in 2017.

   Deputy Director Jim Carroll with the White House drug policy office
   said, "The steep upward trajectory is unacceptable."

   Colombia is a one of the top U.S. allies in Latin America, but the boom
   in coca production has tested relations between the two nations.

   U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to decertify Colombia last year
   as a partner in the war on drugs if it failed to reverse the surge in
   production.

   Colombia's rising coca numbers comes as cocaine use and overdose deaths
   in the United States continue to dramatically increase.