According to the president of Colombia, Donald Trump of the United States should change his policy on marijuana prohibition and replace it with one that allows for international cannabis trade as well as adult-use.
The Colombian president addressed broader issues of drug policy in a post last week on X amid a wider feud between two leaders about the Trump administration’s military attacks against boats alleged as trafficking narcotics.
Petro told a translator that “Colombia provides both the money and deaths for the war, while America provides consumption.” Consumption and growth in Europe and America are to blame for 300,000.
But he also said he proposed to Trump “the opposite” of what the administration is currently doing—by removing tariffs on Colombian agriculture goods and legalizing the “export of cannabis” like “any good,” for example. Petro said the United Nations’ decision to reschedule Cannabis under international treaties that both countries have signed could justify this reform.
Trump also should “intensify the prevention policy in the U.S.” The Colombian President said that, according to High Times, “scientifically studying whether prohibition is needed, or if responsible consumption and state regulation are more appropriate, build an effective treaty in pursuit of the narcos capital and assets around the globe.”
Trump called Petro last week an “illegal leader of drug trafficking” and U.S. Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions the Colombian President, his family members and advisors over alleged drug trafficking involvement.
This comes months after Colombian lawmakers gave initial approval to a bill that would nationally legalize marijuana—with a House committee in August taking the first step in an extensive legislative process to enact the reform.
Petro has consistently supported legalizing cannabis—and he’s put pressure on legislators to advance the issue. In late 2023, he said that legislators who had voted against a cannabis legalization bill in that year were only helping to perpetuate the illegal drug trade and violence that is associated with an unregulated industry.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos recalled the “enormous” hypocrisy of the cannabis legalization in his country, which was the originator of the world drug war, during a 2023 visit to New York City.
Petro took the lead at the Latin American and Caribbean Conference on Drugs 2023. Noting that Colombia and Mexico are “the biggest victims” of the policy, Petro compared the war on drugs to “genocide”.
Petro gave a speech in 2022 at the UN meeting, calling on member countries to change fundamentally their drug policies and to abolish prohibition.
He’s also talked about the prospects of legalizing marijuana in Colombia as one means of reducing the influence of the illicit market. In addition, he said the change in policy should also be followed with the release of people currently behind bars for marijuana.
Trump’s position on federal legalization is not one of support, although he stated in late August that the decision regarding a marijuana rescheduling plan would come within several weeks. His drug policies have been largely focused on the cartels. He has launched controversial extrajudicial assaults on international boats that are alleged to be transporting drugs into the U.S.
Bryan Pocius provided the image.