Colombian President claims cocaine "is no worse than whisky"

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has said cocaine "is no worse than whisky" and it is outlawed due to it being "made in Latin America."

Petro made the comments during a televised cabinet meeting in Bogotá on Wednesday (February 5), arguing that the global drug trafficking industry would "easily be dismantled" if cocaine was legalised and "sold like wine."

“Cocaine is illegal because it is made in Latin America, not because it is worse than whiskey," he said. “Scientists have analysed this: cocaine is not worse than whiskey.”

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Petro compared cocaine to fentanyl "a pharmacy drug by North American multinationals" that "is killing Americans, but it's not made in Colombia."

Since his election in 2022 the left-leaning president has remained steadfast in appealing for global legalisation of illicit drugs, arguing that the failure of the "war on drugs" in Latin America has demonstrated that the only way forward is an end to the "drug prohibition regime."

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As the world's largest producer of cocaine, Colombia has suffered under years of political unrest and violence at the hands of drug cartels — Petro argues that current global drug policy often sees the US push for "crackdowns" on traffickers, which has led to increased homicides and violence across Latin America.

In 2023, his government repealed a degree that permitted police to confiscate small amounts of drugs from users in public — essentially decriminalising "small doses" of drugs in Colombia.

Petro defended the decision in a post on Twitter, writing: "If the constitution permits personal drug use, police should focus on drug lords, not small-time users."

Megan Townsend is Mixmag's Deputy Editor, follow her on Twitter