Cocaine "is no worse than whisky" and is only illegal because it comes from Latin America, said Colombian President Gustavo Petro during a live broadcast of a government meeting.

Cocaine “is no worse than whisky” and is only illegal because it comes from Latin America, said Colombian President Gustavo Petro during a live broadcast of a government meeting.

Colombia is the world’s biggest cocaine producer and exporter, mainly to the United States and Europe, and has spent decades fighting against drug trafficking.

During a six-hour ministerial meeting – broadcast live for the first time ever – the leftist president said “cocaine is illegal because it is made in Latin America, not because it is worse than whisky.”

“Scientists have analyzed this. Cocaine is no worse than whisky,” he added, suggesting that the global cocaine industry could be “easily dismantled” if the drug were legalized worldwide.

“If you want peace, you have to dismantle the business (of drug trafficking),” he said. “It could easily be dismantled if they legalize cocaine in the world. It would be sold like wine.”

Petro also pointed out that fentanyl “is killing Americans and it is not made in Colombia”, referring to the opioid responsible for around 75,000 deaths in the United States a year, according to official data.

“Fentanyl was created as a pharmacy drug by North American multinationals” and those who consumed it “became addicted,” he added.

Since coming to power in 2022, Petro has attempted to make peace with all of the armed groups that are fueled by drug trafficking in the hope of ending six decades of conflict.

Cocaine production in Colombia reached a record-high in 2023, jumping 53 percent to 2,600 tons, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

  • NeuronautML
    18·
    4 hours ago

    Just to add a note that this graph comes from a study made on rats. I love the study and i use this graph frequently when discussing drugs, but i think it’s important to know.

    Being done on rats also raises the point that it’s done excluding a mental component of using the drug, like for instance how some people use cigarettes in depression for its antidepressant effect or use alcohol to cope with mental health issues.

    It also doesn’t explore the mental health effects of repeated exposure to large doses of hallucinogens on people, which we still don’t have research on because of how demonized hallucinogens are in most countries doing research on drugs.

    • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
      4·
      2 hours ago

      I’ve been doing an exhaustive study for the last couple of decades on the effects of whiskey on a human with mental health issues.

    • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.works
      1·
      1 hour ago

      It also doesn’t explore the mental health effects of repeated exposure to large doses of hallucinogens on people, which we still don’t have research on because of how demonized hallucinogens are in most countries doing research on drugs.

      Also, I don’t think you’ll get that past an ethics board…