Colombian president challenges Trump to end war on drugs: «Legalize cannabis now»

The Colombian President Gustavo Petro has publicly called on the U.S. President Donald Trump to put an end to the’cannabis ban and replace it with a regulated framework for adult consumption and international exports. His comments, recently posted on X, have reignited the debate over the global war on drugs, its effectiveness, and its human cost.

«Colombia is providing the money and the casualties in this struggle, while the United States is providing the consumers,» Petro said, highlighting the unequal burden of a war that has claimed «300,000 lives in Colombia and one million in Latin America.».

These remarks come amid growing tensions between Bogotá and Washington following the military strikes carried out by the Trump administration against so-called drug-trafficking vessels. Petro presented his proposal as a rational alternative to decades of failed prohibitionist policies that have perpetuated violence throughout Latin America.

For Legal Exports

Petro urged the United States to replace its punitive strategy with a regulatory system that would address the cannabis as a legal agricultural product. He proposed eliminating tariffs on Colombian products and legalizing the’cannabis exports, «just like any other product,» in accordance with the United Nations decision to reclassify cannabis within the framework of international treaties and in recognition of its low level of danger and its medical uses.

According to Petro, this change would not only reduce illicit trafficking but also strengthen the legal economy in producing countries.

«Trump should also strengthen drug prevention policies in the United States,» he added, calling for scientific research to determine whether the ban is truly effective or whether a state-regulated consumption would help better achieve public health goals.

The Colombian leader suggested that a new international treaty could focus less on criminalization and more on the monitoring and confiscation of drug traffickers' assets worldwide, a measure that could more effectively cut off the financial resources of organized crime than punitive measures.

Diplomatic Conflict and Domestic Reform

The exchange quickly turned acrimonious after Trump called Petro a « drug trafficking ringleader », which prompted the U.S. Department of the Treasury to impose sanctions against the Colombian president, his family, and several of his advisors for their alleged ties to drug trafficking.

Despite these accusations, Petro's national program continues to move forward. The Colombian lawmakers have already given their initial approval on a bill aimed at legalize cannabis nationwide, with the first committee vote having taken place in August. This legislation represents the final step in a broader plan aimed at ending Colombia’s decades-long reliance on prohibitionist policies.

Petro has long been an advocate for the legalization of cannabis as a way to reduce the illicit market and violence. In 2023, he criticized lawmakers who had blocked an earlier reform, accusing them of perpetuating human trafficking and the bloodshed associated with it.

The Irony of the Global War on Drugs

Petro's position is also influenced by his perception of the’Western hypocrisy in terms of drug policy. After visiting New York in 2023, he noticed that some legal cannabis dispensaries were operating openly in the same country who had launched the global war on drugs. According to him, this contrast highlights a « enormous hypocrisy »in international relations.".

At the 2023 Latin American and Caribbean Conference on Drugs, Petro denounced the war on drugs as «genocide,» asserting that Colombia and Mexico remained «the main victims of this policy.» His speech at the United Nations in 2022 reinforced this message, urging Member States to end prohibition and to seek fair and sustainable solutions to the global drug crisis.

He also linked legalization to the social justice, calling for the release of individuals imprisoned for cannabis-related offenses once the regulations have been implemented.

For his part, Trump has shown no willingness to continue the federal legalization of cannabis. Although he hinted in August that a A reclassification decision could be announced «In the coming weeks,» his administration has largely focused on military and repressive measures, including extrajudicial attacks against ships suspected of transporting drugs to the United States.