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- cross-posted to:
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Colombian President Gustavo Petro said during a government meeting that cocaine is “not worse than whiskey” and that it’s only illegal because it comes from Latin America.
Colombia, the world’s largest producer and exporter of cocaine, has spent decades fighting drug trafficking, but the country’s left-wing president claimed the drug was being scapegoated by American politicians, who have waged the war on drugs for decades.
“Cocaine is illegal because it is made in Latin America, not because it is worse than whiskey,” Petro said during a six-hour-long government meeting.
“Scientists have analyzed this: cocaine is not worse than whiskey,” he added, suggesting that the global cocaine industry could be “easily dismantled” if the drug was legalized worldwide.
The thing is, he’s absolutely right. There was a suppressed 1995 study by the World Health Organization on cocaine and its effects. The US threatened to pull out of the WHO at the time since the findings didn’t match US drug policy. Instead of losing the US, the WHO quietly shelved the study.
https://www.brucekalexander.com/articles-speeches/cocaine/181-who-cocaine-study
https://web.archive.org/web/20090618160146/www.tdpf.org.uk/WHOleaked.pdf
From the conclusions section:
A continuum can be identified for cocaine use, which includes:
- experimental use
- occasional use
- situation-specific use
- intensive use
- compulsive/dysfunctional use
Experimental and occasional use are by far the most common types of use, and compulsive/dysfunctional is far less common. Compulsive or dysfunctional users often have serious relationship, work, legal and health problems.
With the legalization of drugs, you can also tax it to finance addiction care and prevention, and by offering legal ways for dealers and producers to go legal, you can probably reduce violence. I see it as a double win.
I read some time ago that drug producers often don’t want it to be legal. They make a lot more money when it’s illegal.
But yes, I believe it would help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4L20t8Dvlg
"Prison Song" They're tryna' build a prison They're tryna' build a prison Oh Following the rights movements, you clamped down with your iron fists Drugs became conveniently available for all the kids Following the rights movements, you clamped down with your iron fists Drugs became conveniently available for all the kids I buy my crack, I smack my bitch Right here in Hollywood Nearly two million Americans are incarcerated In the prison system, prison system of the U.S. They're tryna' build a prison They're tryna' build a prison They're tryna' build a prison They're tryna' build a prison For you and me to live in Another prison system Another prison system Another prison system For you and me Minor drug offenders fill your prisons, you don't even flinch All our taxes paying for your wars against the new non-rich Minor drug offenders fill your prisons, you don't even flinch All our taxes paying for your wars against the new non-rich [Chorus] Oh, oh All research and successful drug policy Shows that treatment should be increased Oh And law enforcement decreased While abolishing mandatory minimum sentences Oh All research and successful drug policy Shows that treatment should be increased Oh And law enforcement decreased While abolishing mandatory minimum sentences Utilizing drugs to pay for secret wars around the world Drugs are now your global policy, now you police the globe ...Even Milton “Shock Doctrine” Friedman was against the drug war.
That’s the problem. For-profit prisons exist.
Let’s not forget that slavery is allowed to exist as a form of punishment in the US.