QCOSTARICA — Cocaine is “no worse than whiskey” and is only illegal because it comes from Latin America, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said during a live broadcast of a government meeting.
Colombia is the world’s largest producer and exporter of cocaine, with Costa Rica being a prime location for transshipments mainly to the United States and Europe, and has spent decades fighting drug trafficking.
Today, groups in Colombia produce 70% to 80% of the world’s cocaine, which is made from locally grown coca plants and cocaine base imported from Peru and Bolivia. It is estimated that Colombia produces 400 million dollars worth of cocaine each week.
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During a six-hour ministerial meeting, broadcast live for the first time in history, Petro said that cocaine is illegal because it is produced in Latin America, not because it is worse than whiskey.
“Scientists have analyzed this. Cocaine is not worse than whiskey,” he said, suggesting that the global cocaine industry could be “easily dismantled” if the drug were legalized worldwide.
“If they want peace, they have to dismantle the (drug trafficking) business,” he said. “It could easily be dismantled if they legalize cocaine in the world. It would sell like wine.”
Petro also stressed that fentanyl “is killing Americans and is not produced in Colombia,” referring to the opioid responsible for some 75,000 deaths annually in the United States, 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 taking power in 2022, Petro has tried to achieve peace with all armed groups financed by drug trafficking, hoping to end six decades of conflict.
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Cocaine production in Colombia hit an all-time high in 2023, increasing 53% to 2,600 tons, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
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