Colombian President Gustavo Petro, during a six-hour live ministerial meeting, claimed cocaine is no more harmful than a glass of whiskey last week, according to the New York Post.

He argued its illegality is driven by global politics and suggested it could be consumed as casually as alcohol. Colombia - as many already know - is the world’s largest producer and exporter of cocaine.

“Scientists have analyzed this. Cocaine is no worse than whiskey,” were his exact words. Petro suggested that legalizing drugs is the most effective way to dismantle the illegal drug trade.

He said: “If you want peace, you have to dismantle the business [of drug trafficking]. It could easily be dismantled if they legalize cocaine in the world. It would be sold like wine.”

The New York Post article says that in 2023, Colombia’s cocaine production hit a record 2,600 tons, per the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

Cocaine-related deaths rose 37% over six years, with 27,529 deaths in 2022, many linked to fentanyl-laced supplies, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Back in January we noted an Oilprice.com piece that wrote that cocaine was outpacing oil as Columbia's most valuable export. 

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that the year’s annual output grew 52% year over year, the largest amount ever produced.

Despite the government in the capital Bogota, with U.S. backing, committing substantial resources to disrupt what is now an economically crucial illicit industry in rural Colombia coca cultivation and cocaine manufacturing keeps spiraling higher.

The booming cocaine trade drives heightened insecurity and corruption which are damaging key economic sectors, notably the fiscally vital petroleum industry with oil Colombia’s most valuable export.