Millions of Americans Will Die If Drug War Continues, Colombia President Warns
Gustavo Petro, President of Colombia
Oscar Medina
Tue, September 20, 2022
(Bloomberg) -- Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro warned that millions of young Americans will die if the “failed” war on drugs continues for another four decades, in an impassioned plea to change the policy toward narcotics.
In his first address to the United Nations General Assembly, Petro said that nearly three million U.S. citizens will overdose on fentanyl if there’s no change of approach.
“We’ll see millions of Afro-North Americans locked up in private jails,” Petro told the world’s leaders on his speech. “And we’ll see another million Latin Americans murdered.”
Still, Colombia’s first leftist president, who took office last month, stopped short of laying out the details of his alternative to decades of repressive drug policies, beyond saying that creating a “better society” would cut demand.
World’s Biggest Cocaine Producer Rethinks the War on Drugs: Q&A
In his speech, Petro also warned that US-led war on drugs has contributed to the destruction of the Amazon. Colombia is the world’s biggest producer of cocaine.
Colombia's Petro calls on Latin America to unite against war on drugs
Colombian President Gustavo Petro
Tue, September 20, 2022
(Reuters) - Colombian President Gustavo Petro called on Latin American countries to join forces to end the war on drugs during a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.
Petro, Colombia's first leftist president, has long derided the global war on drugs as a failure, even using his inauguration speech in August to call for a new international strategy to fight drug trafficking.
"From my wounded Latin America, I demand you end the irrational war on drugs," Petro said, while calling on the wider Latin American community to unite to defeat that "which torments our body."
Drug trafficking and the war on drugs are major contributors to Colombia's armed conflict, according to a report from the country's truth commission, which was established as part of a 2016 peace deal with the now demobilized FARC guerrillas.
The South American country, considered the world's top producer of cocaine, comes under frequent pressure from prime ally the United States to reduce cocaine output.
In July, the U.S. White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) reported that Colombia's potential cocaine output fell to 972 tonnes in 2021 from 994 tonnes the previous year.
Colombia's area taken up by crops of coca, the chief ingredient in cocaine, also declined last year to 234,000 hectares (578,227 acres), down from 245,000 hectares in 2020, the ONDCP said.
Petro, who has also promised to ease Colombia away from its dependence on hydrocarbon exports, also criticized a global addiction to oil and coal, adding that efforts to stop global warming were not working.
"The fight against the climate crisis has failed," he said.
(Reporting by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
Colombian President Gustavo Petro
Tue, September 20, 2022
(Reuters) - Colombian President Gustavo Petro called on Latin American countries to join forces to end the war on drugs during a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.
Petro, Colombia's first leftist president, has long derided the global war on drugs as a failure, even using his inauguration speech in August to call for a new international strategy to fight drug trafficking.
"From my wounded Latin America, I demand you end the irrational war on drugs," Petro said, while calling on the wider Latin American community to unite to defeat that "which torments our body."
Drug trafficking and the war on drugs are major contributors to Colombia's armed conflict, according to a report from the country's truth commission, which was established as part of a 2016 peace deal with the now demobilized FARC guerrillas.
The South American country, considered the world's top producer of cocaine, comes under frequent pressure from prime ally the United States to reduce cocaine output.
In July, the U.S. White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) reported that Colombia's potential cocaine output fell to 972 tonnes in 2021 from 994 tonnes the previous year.
Colombia's area taken up by crops of coca, the chief ingredient in cocaine, also declined last year to 234,000 hectares (578,227 acres), down from 245,000 hectares in 2020, the ONDCP said.
Petro, who has also promised to ease Colombia away from its dependence on hydrocarbon exports, also criticized a global addiction to oil and coal, adding that efforts to stop global warming were not working.
"The fight against the climate crisis has failed," he said.
(Reporting by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
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