This commentary blew right through some lines.
Cocaine is no worse for your health than the common glass of whiskey, claimed the president of Colombia — the world’s biggest producer and exporter of the illegal drug.
In a first of its kind, six-hour live broadcast ministerial meeting in the South American country, Colombian President Gustavo Petro argued that cocaine is only illegal because of global politics — further claiming that it can be consumed as casually as alcohol, according to a report.
“Scientists have analyzed this. Cocaine is no worse than whiskey,” the 64-year-old president said, according to CBS News.
It is not clear what analysis the president was referring to.
He also stated flippantly that “cocaine is illegal because it is made in Latin America, not because it is worse than whiskey.”
During his extended commentary, Petro went on to say that the best way to dismantle the illegal drug-trafficking trade would be to legalize the drugs being trafficked.
“If you want peace, you have to dismantle the business [of drug trafficking],” he said, according to the outlet.
“It could easily be dismantled if they legalize cocaine in the world. It would be sold like wine.”
Cocaine production in Colombia reached a record high in 2023 at 2,600 tons, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
Cocaine related deaths jumped 37% in the last six years — with 27,529 people dying in 2022, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Many of those deaths are fentanyl related — as the opiate is often spliced into cocaine supplies by drug dealers.
