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The article shows that belligerents also gain freedom of operation and political capital with the local population based on the cases of Peru, Colombia, Afghanistan, Burma, and Northern Ireland. The benefits belligerent groups derive from access to drug production and trafficking are not simply the improvement of capabilities due to an increase in financial profits, but also an expansion of strategic and tactical options and the improvement in relations between the belligerents and the local population.

Analysis of the connection between the narcotics economy and insurgent movements in Peru and Colombia shows that the guerilla access to illicit substances intensifies and lengthens the militarized conflicts. The insurgents gains are in the form of financial assets, enhanced military capabilities, expanded strategic and tactical options, and improved relations with local populations ? the latter, crucially, denying governments important intelligence on the guerrillas. The existence of a ?narco-guerrilla? threat, however, is a misnomer, for the guerrillas and the drug dealers often have competitive interests and highly problematic relations. Governmental attempts to defeat the insurgency through crop eradication are often counterproductive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]