Colombia's President Calls for Legalizing Cocaine

Colombia's president is calling for the legalization of his country's most notorious export, arguing that cocaine isn't worse than whiskey. "Cocaine is illegal because it is made in Latin America, not because it is worse than whiskey," President Gustavo Petro said during a nationally televised government meeting Tuesday night. "Scientists have analyzed this," he said. "Cocaine is no worse than whiskey." The left-wing president said the global cocaine trafficking industry could be "easily dismantled if they legalized cocaine in the world," Politico reports. "It would be sold like wine," he said.

The remarks are "likely to raise eyebrows in Washington," where President Trump has vowed to crack down on cross-border trafficking of drugs, especially fentanyl, the Financial Times reports. Petro said during the Tuesday meeting that the synthetic opioid "is killing Americans, but it's not made in Colombia." Fentanyl, he said, "was created as a pharmacy drug by North American multinationals." Cocaine production in Colombia rose 53% to a record high in 2023, the first full year of Petro's presidency, according to the United Nations. His government has sharply reduced police and military actions against coca farmers, focusing instead of seizing shipments at sea, the FT reports. (More Colombia stories.)