Colombia’s President Open to Legalizing Cocaine

Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos told the UK’s Observer that he would “welcome” drug legalization, if a global consensus was reached on the matter. The newspaper says that “the president, elected last year, has emerged as the leading voice on the international political stage calling for a major rethink on the war on drugs.”

He told the newspaper that a new approach was needed to cut the profitability of the global drug trade; “If that means legalising, and the world thinks that's the solution, I will welcome it. I'm not against it."

It has become increasingly acceptable for public figures to speak in favor of legalizing cannabis, but Santos takes the more unusual step of explicitly stating his openness to the idea of depenalizing cocaine -- a brave political step given the notoriety of the drug. 

I would never legalise very hard drugs like morphine or heroin because in fact they are suicidal drugs. I might consider legalising cocaine if there is a world consensus because this drug has affected us most here in Colombia.

Santos has expressed his support for drug legalization many times over the years. In1998 he was a signatory to an open letter to the UN secretary general, calling for a rethink of the war on drugs. Last year he backed Mexican President Felipe Calderon’scalls for “debate” on the subject.

The Colombian president is well-placed to speak out in favor of legalization, having established his credentials both domestically and abroad as a hard-liner against drug trafficking groups like the FARC guerrillas, most recently with the high-profile slaying of rebel leader “Alfonso Cano.” This allows him to back legalization efforts without being seen as “soft” on drugs.

As he said to the Observer;

I've told President Calderon, 'You and I have a lot more authority to talk about this because our countries have spilled a lot of blood fighting drug traffickers and we should promote this discussion."

The liberal newspaper, sister to the Guardian, has praise for Santos, who it says is an “an increasingly influential figure in Latin American politics.” It calls him a “keen internationalist,” and lauds his “determined attempt” to cut poverty.

When the president came to office he was widely expected to follow closely in the footsteps of his predecessor, Alvaro Uribe -- a controversial figure who was credited with turning around the security situation in Colombia, but whose presidency was dogged by reports of abuse by the military and the intelligence service. Uribe’s passionate and sometimes overbearing style as a politician included a blanket opposition to illegal drug use, and he fought to overturn a law that depenalized the possession of “personal use” quantities of narcotics, arguing that tighter laws would help win the war on drugs. As he told a conference of U.S. mayors in 2009;

It is kind of difficult, dear Mayors, to win this battle. We are winning, but we have not won yet. It is pretty hard to win this battle if we do not increase control over consumption.

Santos, as Uribe’s defense minister, was closely involved with his policies. However, since taking the presidency, he has shown a markedly different approach, often appearing to choose pragmatism over ideology, and has clashed repeatedly with the still-influential former leader. As well as his liberal approach to drug laws, Santos has recognized the existence of an “armed conflict” in Colombia, and, as the Observer notes, he has worked to pass legislation returning land to displaced people, and to pay compensation to victims of the country’s conflict since the 1980s.

Santos could, then, be an influential voice in favor of the liberalization of drug laws. But as he points out;

This is a very sensitive political subject and there's a lot of hypocrisy there ... Many leaders, in private, they will say something and they tell me something and in public they say, "But I can't do this probably because my people will really crucify me."

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