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Contribution short abstract:

An ethnographic account of the organization of cocaine production and trafficking in the Chapare, Bolivia. Rather than a free market where people can seek out the highest price, cocaine production is rooted in a local moral order that values people and place over the laws of supply and demand.

Contribution long abstract:

In the Chapare, Bolivia producing and trafficking cocaine is a common practice – almost everyone is directly or indirectly involved. This paper provides an empirical account of the organization of the local drug trade with a focus on everyday social relations, where networks of social ties, debt, and reputation shape decision-making. Rather than a free market where people can seek out the highest price, cocaine production is rooted in a local moral order that values people and place over the laws of supply and demand. In tracing out the common set of understandings regarding exchange practices this paper contributes to debates on the organization of illicit markets, the role of drugs in agrarian transformation and the ‘commoning’ of drug cultures on the supply side.