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Juan Manuel Santos: As Colombia’s leader, I know we must rethink the drugs war
Source: The Observer
As Colombia’s leader, I know we must rethink the drugs war
Juan Manuel Santos
Saturday 16 April 2016 21.00 BST
How does one explain to a Colombian peasant in a rural community in the south-west of the country that he will be prosecuted under criminal charges for growing marijuana plants, while a young entrepreneur in Colorado finds his or her legal recreational marijuana business booming?
This is perhaps the most glaring paradox in the global debate over the “war on drugs”. A war that on most counts shows little progress if contrasted with the amount of time, blood and treasure invested by so many nations with a view to dismantling a business that remains as strong and active as it was half a century ago.
During this period, Colombia has lost many of its best political leaders, policemen and soldiers, judges and prosecutors, in a relentless war against drug barons and their violent criminal organisations. Significant achievements have been made in terms of dismantling drug cartels, bringing to justice one drug kingpin after another, limiting their power, reducing the marijuana, coca and poppy cultivation, as well as the production of cocaine and heroin. But our gains have become other countries’ losses. Drug traffickers adapt and change, making progress reversible.
Starting on 18 April, the United Nations is to hold a special session of its general assembly to address these issues, and Colombia will be there to present its view forcefully, at a crucial juncture in the country’s history.
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This is not a call for legalisation of drugs. It is a call for recognition that between total war and legalisation there exists a broad range of options worth exploring if we want to take better care of drug consumers, protect our youth from drug abuse, collaborate to continue combating organised crime and provide alternative economic means to illegal crop farmers and vulnerable communities.
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Juan Manuel Santos
Saturday 16 April 2016 21.00 BST
How does one explain to a Colombian peasant in a rural community in the south-west of the country that he will be prosecuted under criminal charges for growing marijuana plants, while a young entrepreneur in Colorado finds his or her legal recreational marijuana business booming?
This is perhaps the most glaring paradox in the global debate over the “war on drugs”. A war that on most counts shows little progress if contrasted with the amount of time, blood and treasure invested by so many nations with a view to dismantling a business that remains as strong and active as it was half a century ago.
During this period, Colombia has lost many of its best political leaders, policemen and soldiers, judges and prosecutors, in a relentless war against drug barons and their violent criminal organisations. Significant achievements have been made in terms of dismantling drug cartels, bringing to justice one drug kingpin after another, limiting their power, reducing the marijuana, coca and poppy cultivation, as well as the production of cocaine and heroin. But our gains have become other countries’ losses. Drug traffickers adapt and change, making progress reversible.
Starting on 18 April, the United Nations is to hold a special session of its general assembly to address these issues, and Colombia will be there to present its view forcefully, at a crucial juncture in the country’s history.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
This is not a call for legalisation of drugs. It is a call for recognition that between total war and legalisation there exists a broad range of options worth exploring if we want to take better care of drug consumers, protect our youth from drug abuse, collaborate to continue combating organised crime and provide alternative economic means to illegal crop farmers and vulnerable communities.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/apr/16/war-drugs-colombia-un-new-approach
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