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Violence in modern Colombia takes place in many forms. The three major categories are crime, guerrilla activities, and attacks committed by drug traffickers. Violence has become so widespread and common in Colombia that many people have now become numb to it. The Colombian economy has also benefited from the illicit drug trade; however violent it may be. During the 1970s, Colombia became well known, as one of the world’s most important drug processing, production, and distribution centers for marijuana and cocaine. The shrubs and plants from which both drugs are derived from and processed has been well known in Colombia for centuries, but until the 1970s drug refiners and traffickers had not taken full advantage. The chewing of coca leaves was very well known in the South American Inca Empire in the 11th century. The Incas, the Colombian Chibchas and other local ethnic groups have always attributed mythical and religious power to the bush and to the alkaloids that were extracted by its leaves by chewing on them. The existence of a drug, cocaine, which could be chemically extracted from large volumes of leaves was not discovered until 1884 by an Austrian ophthalmologist. Marijuana is a drug extracted from hemp, a plant from which coarse fibers are also obtained for the manufacture of cloth, cordage, and sacking. The development of marijuana in Colombia took place in the mid 1940s during the administration of President Mariano Ospina Perez. The government at this time imported various fibers producing species from different parts of the world in an attempt to improve the postwar textile industry. The imported fiber plant included cannabis sativa (hemp) from Asia, and jute and sisal from Mexico. The Ministry of Agriculture was distributing these plants throughout the countryside of Colombia, and peasants and farmers were encouraged to plant them. During this same period, the consumption of marijuana was beginning to become a problem among the Bohemians in Medellin. As a result of this increasing drug problem, especially among the Bohemian members of the middle and upper class, on March 11, 1946, the Ospina administration passed the nation’s first anti-drug law, Decree No. 896. This law prohibited the cultivation, distribution, and sale of coca and marijuana, and ruled that all local and regional governments had to destroy all coca and marijuana plantatio... ... the drug cartels have a hold over the country, the economy continues to stay stable, even with the illegal drug money. Bibliography Bibliography Belov, D. â€Å"Drug Problems of Colombia,† International Affairs, Vol. 44 (Nov. 1998) pp. 125-129. Boudon, Lawrence. â€Å"Guerillas and the State,† Journal of Latin American Studies, Vol. 28 (May 1996), pp. 279-297. Chepesiak, Ron. â€Å"Narco Paralysis in Colombia,† New Leader, Vol. 80 (Jan. 1997), pp. 6-10. Knoester, Mark. â€Å"War in Colombia,† Social Justice, Vol. 25 (Nov. 1998) pp. 85-109. Maullin, Richard L. Soldiers, Guerillas, and Politics in Colombia (Lexington, Massachusetts, 1973) pp. 84-109. Oquist, Paul. Violence, Conflict, and Politics in Colombia (New York, 1980) pp.108-129. Osterling, Jorge P. Democracy in Colombia: Clientist Politics and Guerilla Warfare (New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1989) pp. 261-300. Posada-Carbo, Eduardo. Colombia: The Politics of Reforming the State (New York, 1998) pp. 111-125. Richani, Nazih. â€Å"War Systems in Colombia,† Journal of Interamerican studies and World Affairs, Vol. 39 (Summer 1997), pp. 37-81. Steiner, Roberto. â€Å"Colombian Income from the Drug Trade,† World Development, Vol. 26 (June 1998), pp. 1013-1031.