BBC News

Pupils visit Colombia on anti-drugs project

June 8--Two Edinburgh school pupils are flying to Colombia to see at first-hand the "misery and destruction" caused by the cocaine trade.

8 de junio de 2010

Andrew MacKinnon and Andrew Dove, fifth year pupils at Portobello High, will meet a victim of drug trafficking and see the drug's environmental impact.

They have been invited on a week-long visit by Colombian Vice-President Francisco Santos.

The invite follows a project they did on the Colombian drug trade.

Their study examined the impact on individuals, communities and wildlife as a result of violence, kidnapping, corruption, deforestation and pollution.

They arrive in Colombia on Monday.
 
Colombia is one of the world's leading producers of cocaine. For every two grams of cocaine consumed in Scotland, 8 sq metres of Colombian jungle are cut down, and, in the past 20 years, 2.2 million hectares of tropical forest have been destroyed to make way for coca plant.
 
Read more here.
 
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