Recreational drug tourism is described as traveling to purchase and consume leisure drugs that are inaccessible, illegal, or prohibitively costly in one's home country. Tourism is now one of the most important sectors on the planet. For the first moment in history, foreign tourists' revenues surpassed $1 trillion in 2011, marking the resurgence of a thriving and famous practice for millions of people. However, another, more concerning aspect to these figures is the number of people who engage in drug tourism, a dangerous method of foreign drug testing.
Defining Drug Tourism
Drug tourism is described as touring specifically for the intent of purchasing and consuming substances. These medications may not be accessible in the visitor's home homeland and might even be highly costly, necessitating a search for a supply of the drugs abroad. And suppose the medications are safe and inexpensive in certain situations. In that case, a user will embark on drug tourism for the explicit objective of consuming them because of a particular function or type of event that encourages drug celebrations.
The medications may be used for personal or medical purposes, and the medicines themselves may be authorized (as in the case of alcohol, cigarettes, or marijuana in some states) or prohibited (as in the case of cocaine and substances obtained from psychedelic plants).
Except for relatively good purposes, including purchasing medical marijuana, there are many dangers associated with moving ahead on drug tourism for the intent of possessing and/or consuming drugs. Any of these dangers include:
- Detention and incarceration in a neighboring jurisdiction in which a traveler on drug tourism may not be familiar with the language or traditions.
- Having to get an emergency medicinal assistant in a distant location or unable to get help and to understand a medical history due to communication limitations during the drug tourism.
- Putting yourself at the risk of regional criminal gangs during drug tourism. in areas where drug trafficking is prohibited and only done on the illegal markets
- Being at the hands of law enforcement authorities during the drug tourism, who are too aggressive or dishonest
- Contributing to localized violence, injustice, and civil unrest during drug tourism.
- As a consequence of substances being placed in luggage during drug tourism, people are unintentionally moving substances across borders.
- Experiencing other health issues, such as HIV during drug tourism.
Columbia
According to The Guardian, Colombia's cocaine is so well-known that “the plant is now a tourism destination in itself.” More tourists are traveling to rural parts of the state during their drug tourism, attracted by offers of attending a “the drug plant” where tourists can make their fresh drug dose which is the best practice during drug tourism.
Those commitments, though, mask a horrible reality: unimaginable acts of brutality, abduction, and the risk of being trapped in the skirmish of a civil war that began in 1964. While the Colombian government's efforts to separate the state from its image as “the global marketplace for illicit substances” for the tourists on Drug Tourism as per the Foreign Policy and making tremendous advances towards the drug traffickers and guerilla networks that regulate the market (destroying one forty-four tons of the drug and 350k gallons of the substances in 2008 and damaging twenty-five percent of cocaine-producing substances in 2009), the illicit substance business continues to exist.
The Colombian government gave in to the drug's overwhelming demand and legalized it for the travelers on Drug Tourism; although selling cocaine is prohibited, having less than one gram of cocaine for private use is already permissible since 1994. Admittedly, amid the Colombian military's best efforts to win the war on drugs – including “cops regularly screening suspicious foreigners” cocaine is as easy to locate as always.
Colombia is emerging from its troubled history as one of South America's most famous holiday destinations. Vicky Baker says the nation's most popular drug product which is cocaine has been a major draw for a huge audience. Colombia's view of cocaine fails to draw some tourists to Colombia's drug tourism. Since I've been in Colombia, I've lost a lot of weight; it must have been due to the substances,” says the American traveler who finished his drug tourism loudly and long as repeating the last word to make sure everybody in Bogota's dining hall listens. “Then there's sex.” It's not shocking that certain Colombian tourists on their drug tourism can't resist finding the country's most common drug, but the material appears to transform into a tourist destination for drug tourism itself. Like trying steak in Argentina and caipirinhas in Brazil, try coke in Colombia. Colombia tries to separate itself from crime, drugs, and poverty. The nation works hard to boost its international reputation, and the tourist department has a bright new slogan: “Colombia: the only danger is to stay.” While it is a good development by the government, Colombia remains a hot spot for drug tourism. Sad to say, despite their best efforts to convince people to rethink this glorious yet confounding country, some travelers seem intent on taking their own chances during drug tourism.
Peru
As Colombia's government attempts (with inconsistent results) to make it more difficult for cocaine traffickers and drug seekers on drug tourism, bordering Peru is taken control of. Over half of the local residents suffering from poverty, the circumstances were perfect for the government to surpass Colombia as the leading manufacturer of cocaine. What the Fix refers to as “the region's most relaxed drug policies,” which allow for the legal ownership of a variety of substances and tremendously weakened punishment or incarceration,” are adding fuel to the fire.
However, law enforcement agents have control when it comes to enforcing these regulations; visitors on drug tourism with even legitimate doses of drugs can face “a lack of proportionality standards,” according to the head of the H.R Research Center in Lima. The Fix jokingly advises, “Buyer be careful”. As comparatively appealing as it is to cocaine lovers, it often poses a threat to travellers seeking an unusual thrill during their drug tourism.
Cocaine is a deeply addictive stimulant that raises your consciousness, concentration, and activity levels. The stimulant is a term that you can hear used to describe it. It is indeed produced from the coca vine, a South American product. It's against the law in the United States and so travelers on drug tourism also can not purchase it and use it publically. Coke, Snow, Rock, Blow, and Crack are only a few of the other words for it. It is available in a variety of shapes and sizes. A small, white powder is the most popular form. It's even possible to make a strong rock crystal out of it. The white substance is snorted into the nostrils by the majority of cocaine addicts. Some people apply it to their teeth with a brush, while others absorb it in water and pump it with a tube. Others ignite the rock crystal and inhale the resulting gas. So, cocaine can be more dangerous for the people who visit far-off places on their Drug Tourism.
The treatment releases a large amount of dopamine, a normal brain chemical in your bloodstream, into the pleasure-controlling areas of your brain. The high is the result of this progression and is characterized by strong feelings of strength and attentiveness which can be harmful to the people who are on drug tourism.
Colombia is beginning to emerge from its difficult past to be one of South America's most popular vacation spots. According to Vicky Baker, the company's most famous product has become a big attraction for a large demographic. Colombia's cocaine perception continues to attract some travelers to set on their drug tourism to Colombia.
“I've lost a lot of weight since I've been in Colombia; it must have been the substances,” the American traveler who had ended his drug tourism says loud and long as if emphasizing the last phrase to ensure that everyone in Bogota hostel's dining hall hears him. “And then there's the sex.”
It's not surprising that certain visitors to Colombia on their drug tourism can not avoid seeking the country's most popular drug, but the substance seems to be turning into a tourist destination for drug tourism in and of itself. In the same way that you try steak in Argentina and caipirinhas in Brazil, you try coke in Colombia.
Colombia is attempting to distance itself from the picture of violence, narcotics, and suffering. The country is working hard to improve its foreign image, and the tourist department has a bold new slogan: “Colombia: the only risk is wanting to stay.” Although, it is a positive move by the Government still Colombia remains a hot spot for tourists for their drug tourism. Sad to say, despite their best efforts to persuade people to reconsider this magnificent but confusing nation, some travellers appear to be focused on taking their own chances during their drug tourism.
Ayahuasca
The native inhabitants of Amazonian Peru employed ayahuasca, a psychedelic drink developed from different varieties of herbs, trees, and bushes, for ritual and medicinal practices. As Village Voice says that, “it has achieved traction with many artists and interested travellers who set on drug tourism, want to get a better picture about themselves and a link to a higher intellect.” Ayahuasca, on the other hand, is considered to induce vomiting, diarrhoea, and psychiatric depression, and deaths as a consequence of ayahuasca use are not rare.
In 2011, a British guy, affectionately nicknamed “shaman”, sentenced to prison for consuming ayahuasca in a rehabilitation presentation for the tourists on drug tourism. Drug tourism' Participants at the festival were informed that the ayahuasca indeed could heal chronic ailments, particularly tumors, as per The Guardian. Ayahuasca produces compounds of dimethyltryptamine, a psychedelic in and of itself, and it is dimethyltryptamine that is in the UK's highest list of prohibited substances. In the United States, it is also classified as a Schedule I substance.
An American teen on drug tourism died in 2012 after moving to Peru to participate in an ayahuasca ceremony. The shaman who gave that “unnecessarily high dose of ayahuasca” was captured by police. A teenager from the United Kingdom died in 2014 after drinking ayahuasca two times in two days. He was in the company of a party of visitors on drug tourism who had paid $50 for the “shaman tour.” After what seemed to be an adverse consequence to the ayahuasca, the 19 years old dead boy was discovered dropped on the front of the highway.
Opening the Eyes to More Hidden Truths
Nevertheless, many people seeking relief from trauma, cancer, or alcoholism are drawn on drug tourism to Peru to see what ayahuasca has to bring. Taxi drivers connect people with shamans, likening the condition to how these substances are effective and popular among foreigners.
Men's Journal examines the death of a U.S adolescent and highlights some of the potential risks of drug tourism. Of course, that there's no law governing the distribution of the narcotics, so visitors on drug tourism are at the hands of people who consider themselves “shamans,” but they may be gang agents, robbers, or criminals, or who are merely inexperienced and unaware of the dangers of providing psychotropic medicines to innocents, easily influenced, and ignorant souls seeking to get drunk.
Yet if they aren't employed to an illegal organization, many “shamans” stay well conscious of the tendency for drug travelers during their drug tourism to ease their defenses, fascinated by the romantic and misguided notion that old superstition is the answer to the developed and modern Western world's “selfishness, money, and sin” issues. Young men and women are at risk of being exploited – emotionally, physically, or both – by “shamans” who promise that ayahuasca will “open their eyes to greater truths.” The shaman eventually confessed that a U.S boy who was taken to him for ayahuasca expired after consuming it who was laid to rest on the grounds of his ayahuasca building, which cost over $2,000 to enroll in the ceremony.
Mexico
Mexico is located near the borders of Peru and Colombia. Despite the fact that Mexico has indeed been engulfed in a drug war since 2006, with over 60,000 men murdered, the city of Tijuana maintains the most popular drug tourism destination for hundreds of hundreds of foreign American college students. Despite the US State Department releasing a travel notice for Mexico regarding drug tourism, Tijuana prepared for a surge of more than 35,000 tourists on drug tourism in 2012. The escalating drug war was attributed to the killings of 120 Americans in the state the preceding year. According to Stratfor Global Intelligence, because of widespread fear of fraud within Mexico's cop, most of them stay on the payroll of numerous drug gangs, constitutional implementation has been delegated to the military, and tourists who are on drug tourism to Mexico must be mindful of the fact.
The Pastime Celebrations
Even with the prospect of death and destruction hovering over the summer holiday celebrations during drug tourism, why does Tijuana continue to stay such a great attraction for tourists, and why tourists still tend to set on drug tourism? According to Forbes magazine, summer vacation is seen as a pastime in American tradition. There is the possibility of entertainment, meeting new people, and take trips, but there is also the risk of alcohol consumption, which is promoted by youngsters who are for the first occasion away from the family and residence hall and resident counselors. Mexico's reduced driving age, which is 18, and low rates certainly contribute to this.
According to Forbes, people on drug tourism during the summer holiday reported consuming alcohol up to Eighteen beers in 12 hours, and the Vice cites statistics from the NIDA that show that “approximately twenty-five percent of eighteen to twenty-year adults” go on drug tourism for summer holiday adventures to celebrate, and not only with binge drinking, but other drugs also enjoyed in this “conformist merriment” include protein powder.
According to the Atlantic, 500,000 high school tourists on drug tourism visit Panama City, Florida (the “drug tourism hub of the world) each year, buying “severe alcohol in abundance” and spending $170 million in 6 weeks. Not surprisingly, the month of March saw an increase in violence in Panama City.
Asia
From the Americas to Asia – after spending time in South America, an author for The Atlantic claims she was unaware of Southeast Asia's “heavy emphasis on substance trafficking, particularly in the “Golden Triangle”. As per the 2010 World Drug Report, Myanmar reported for Seventeen percent of the world's painkiller production in 2009, generating 330 tons. Foreign visitors on drug tourism seeking a taste of the fabled heroin from the Orient came as the drug distributed throughout territories. Opium is the medicine most closely linked with Asia, after coffee. The opium bloom grows well in the fertile land of Turkey and Iran, east through Pakistan and Afghanistan to the northern mountain terrain of Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos, and is used to make opium. The area is in the appearance of a moon. Thus they termed it as Golden Crescent. The Golden Triangle refers to the mountain areas of Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos. Until the year 1000 Anno Domini., nutrition experts were able to prove that Arabian doctors in Central Asia harvested natural opium and used it to ease pain and diarrhoea. Around that time, Arabian merchants started selling opium to India and China, and it even showed up in trade deliveries to Europe. Despite the lack of adequate data, some analysts agree that opium use grew more quickly in early colonial and imperial India than in China. In 1895, a British royal commission studied Indian opium use and concluded that the Indians had not experienced any adverse consequences resulting from opium consumption. In China, things were different.
They discover something more than heroin in Southeast Asia. In Cambodia, weed is available as a pizza topping. Having opioid drugs in Thailand does not need a pharmaceutical statement for tourists on drug tourism; Xanax, according to a former tourist who had enjoyed the drug tourism, is marketed “like Tic Tacs.” Restaurant owners at riverfront pubs in Veng Vieng, Laos, serve psychedelic mushroom milkshakes and hash to travelers during their drug tourism, many of whom are 19-year-old British students.
Full Moon Parties
The “full moon gatherings” of Koh Phangan, at the Thai shores, are a rare Southeast Asian presentation. Foreign people are the majority of those who join whole nightly parties held pre or post every 14th and 15 of the moons. Foreigners are cautioned that “the drug and Magical Mushrooms are Prohibited in the country,” and the prohibition is strictly enforced (due to warnings from the Embassy of Britain for the welfare of its civilians) however, the drug community is so pervasive that called full moon parties “depraved, deviant, and potentially dangerous.”
Every full moon, a group of up to 20,000 foreign tourists on drug tourism congregate on a shore of a beach on a small Thai island (Koh Pha-Ngan) to party the rest of the night next to a strip of pubs and nightclubs blasting electronic music before getting drunk on marijuana, Yaba, cannabis, Ecstasy pills, or bottle drinks before the sun rises on the famed sunrise beach. Tens of millions of people have said it's the best drug tourism they've ever been to in the past two decades, making it a must-see destination on spring vacations.
While the party's beginnings are harmless indeed, the mix of pharmaceutical goods from other nations, violence, interested visitors on drug tourism, and a pre-existing using mushrooms is known and the popular product has earned the night parties a controversial name, both happily and unwittingly. Foreign visitors on drug tourism now get to Koh Phangan to “become really high,” and cops are cracking down on traffickers supplying Drugs to high school students as old as 18 years old, both publicly and secretly.
There is a significant illegal presence in the mix. People’s choices of restaurant apartments are constantly raided when they're at the all-night gathering. While the administration is understandably stunned and concerned, it continues to occur at specific lodgings year after year. At the club, drug cartels run, and they are always in frequent contact with dirty cops. You buy some inexpensive marijuana, get “taken into custody,” pay 150,000 baht to prevent punishment, and then the next loser gets the same bag of marijuana.
Thai officials declared in November 2014 that a series of these night gatherings would be outlawed due to “booze and substance” concerns. The head of the police department of the district informed Australia's “News” an official newspaper and website, that Thailand is no more involved in hosting drug tourism, the whose only motive for visiting is to consume alcohol and use substances. With only one full moon party able to run, hundreds of Thailand's travellers will have to come up with different travel arrangements on drug tourism.
Local residents were cited in the article as speculating that foreign travelers on drug tourism searching for the nightly wild gatherings would most probably be shipped to Cambodia and or Myanmar. Possibly relevant, Thailand has medicine and substance laws that have been labelled “straightforwardly antiquated,” demanding mandatory treatment for drug abusers and those found with drugs during their drug tourism, besides the United Nations urging the Thailand authority to stop an “ineffective” scheme.
Amsterdam
When the discussion of drug tourism is brought up, several participants immediately think of Amsterdam. Tourists on drug tourism from all over Europe and America fly to Amsterdam, the Netherlands' capital city, to partake in the pleasures of legalized prostitution and accessible marijuana use. Many foreign travelers on drug tourism to Amsterdam love that “excitement” of purchasing pot and enjoying it as an independent person during their drug tourism, possibly in the clear sense of police departments, as per the Fix authors. They can, though, be in for welcome amazement when they enter the city.
Although the Netherlands has a reputation for inclusive and transparent legislation (such as homosexual marriage, citizenship, organized sex, and “unconstitutional, but not legally binding” marijuana laws), the Dutch establishment has adopted measures to address many of the issues that result from the foreign individualized drug tourism to search cheap and easily accessible substances of their needs. Foreigners are prohibited from visiting pot cafes in response to community complaints of overseas visitors on their drug tourism creating traffic problems, establishing a marketplace for addictive drugs (which are not permitted in the Netherlands), openly passing urine, and cracking down on visitors during drug tourism attempting to trade illegally the lawfully obtained drug across borders to their home country. Clients that are registered buyers will be served only in cafes in the selected provinces.
The city of Amsterdam declined to follow the rules and regulations, possibly for economic reasons, despite the fact that two-thirds of tourists came to the city on drug tourism to taste the marijuana on sale. Nevertheless, even Amsterdam is subject to limits on the amount of cannabis that can be purchased, and visitors must be of adult age to buy any cannabis-related products during drug tourism. Foreigners should be mindful that, though drug restrictions are not enforced, police can and do hold an eye on travelers who seek a cannabis utopia during drug tourism in Amsterdam, according to CNN.
REFERENCES
“International Tourist Receipts Surpass US$1 Trillion in 2011.” (May 2012). World Tourism Organization. Accessed December 17, 2014.
“Tourism as a Driver of Illicit Drug Use, HIV Risk in the Dominican Republic.” (October 2014). Science Daily. Accessed December 20, 2014.
“The Rise of the Cocaine Tourist.” (April 2008). The Guardian. Accessed December 17, 2014.
“Colombia Calls a Draw in the War on Drugs.” (June 2014). Foreign Policy. Accessed December 18, 2014.
“A Look at Major Drug-Producing Countries.” (February 2008). USA Today. Accessed December 17, 2014.
“Colombia Grows Quarter Less Coca Crop, According to UNODC 2012 Survey.” (n.d.) United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Accessed December 17, 2014.
“UN: Colombia’s Urban Rich Poor Gap Worsening.” (October 2013). Colombia Politics. Accessed December 18, 2014.
“Cocaine Use and Its Effects.” (n.d.) WebMD. Accessed December 17, 2014.
“Colombia Rethinks Legalized Drugs.” (April 2004). CBS News. Accessed December 20, 2014.
“I Went on a “Make Your Own Cocaine Tour” in Colombia.” (August 2013). Vice. Accessed December 18, 2014.
“Rural Poverty in Peru.” (n.d.) Rural Poverty Portal. Accessed December 18, 2014.
“4 Reasons Why Peru Became World’s Top Cocaine Producer.” (December 2013). Insight Crime. Accessed December 18, 2014.
“Legislation on Drugs and the Prison Situation in Peru.” (December 2010). The Beckley Foundation. Accessed December 20, 2014.
“What is Ayahuasca and Why is Everyone Singing About It?” (June 2013). LA Weekly. Accessed December 18, 2014.
“A Fatal Intoxication Following the Ingestion of 5-Methoxy-N,N-Dimethyltryptamine in an Ayahuasca Preparation.” (December 2005). Journal of Analytical Toxicology. Accessed December 18, 2014.
”Shaman” Jailed for Hallucinogenic Drug Potion at “Healing” Ceremony.” (September 2011). The Guardian. Accessed December 18, 2014.
“What are the U.K. Drug Laws?” (n.d.) DrugWise. Accessed December 18, 2014.
“U.S. Teen Dies After Taking Hallucinogenic Drug, Ayahuasca, in Peru.” (September 2012). TIME. Accessed December 14, 2014.
“British Backpacker Dies After Taking Hallucinogenic Brew in Colombia.” (April 2014). The Guardian. Accessed December 18, 2014.
“The Dark Side of Ayahuasca.” (March 2013). Men’s Journal. Accessed December 18, 2014.
“Teen’s Quest for Amazon “Medicine” Ends in Tragedy.” (October 2014). CNN. Accessed December 18, 2014.
“Mexico Drug War Fast Facts.” (November 2014). CNN. Accessed December 19, 2014.
“Tijuana Gears for More than 35,000 Visitors for Spring Break set on drug tourism.” (March 2012). San Diego Red. Accessed December 19, 2014.
“Students Continue Travel to Tijuana.” (February 2012). USA Today. Accessed December 19, 2014.
“Spring Break in Mexico 2013: Security Risks and Travel Tips.” (March 2013). Stratfor Global Intelligence. Accessed December 20, 2014.
“Spring Break’s Greatest Danger.” (March 2014). Forbes. Accessed December 19, 2014.
“DrugFacts: Nationwide Trends.” (January 2014). National Institute of Drug Abuse. Accessed December 20, 2014.
“An American Explains Spring Break to British People.” (March 2013). Vice. Accessed December 20, 2014.
“2,000 Years of Partying: The Brief History and Economics of Spring Break.” (March 2013). The Atlantic. Accessed December 19, 2014.
“The High Lands: Exploring Drug Tourism Across Southeast Asia.” (March 2012). The Atlantic. Accessed December 19, 2014.
“World Drug Report 2010.” (2010). United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Accessed December 19, 2014.
“Won’t You Come Try Laos’ “Special Magic Mushroom Shakes”?” (August 2009). Jaunted. Accessed December 19, 2014.
“The Worst Party in Asia.” (n.d.) Slate. Accessed December 19, 2014.
“Thailand’s Full Moon Parties Have Been Taken Over By YOLO Idiots” (August 2013). Vice. Accessed December 19, 2014.
“Thailand’s Famous Moon Parties Banned in Drug and Alcohol Crackdown.” (November 2014). News.com.au. Accessed December 19, 2014.
“Thai Government in Massive Campaign to Round Up Drug Users.” (February 2011). Stopthedrugwar.org. Accessed December 20, 2014.
“Tourists to be Banned from Amsterdam Cannabis Cafes.” (May 2011). The Australian. Accessed December 20, 2014.
“Dutch Cannabis Owners Fight Changes.” (April 2012). BBC. Accessed December 20, 2014.
“Amsterdam Coffee Shop News 2014.” (December 2014). Amsterdam.info. Accessed December 20, 2014.
“Amsterdam for Tourists: What’s Legal?” (July 2013). CNN. Accessed December 20, 2014.
Ben Lesser is one of the most sought-after experts in health, fitness and medicine. His articles impress with unique research work as well as field-tested skills. He is a freelance medical writer specializing in creating content to improve public awareness of health topics. We are honored to have Ben writing exclusively for Dualdiagnosis.org.