Colombia has requested the removal of coca leaf from the list of substances controlled by the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs

He Colombian government exposed once again to the world that he seeks to reverse the drug policy of which, according to the Deputy Minister of Multilateral Affairs Laura Gil at the first meeting of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, the country is tired. There, in addition, he asked that it be put on the table to recognize as an error to have included the Coca leaf on the list of prohibited substances.

“Colombia is tired. Tired of throwing the dead away and tired of persecuting her peasants in this failed war on drugs. This failed drug war does not represent an unpaid debt of Colombia, it embodies a debt of the international drug regime to the world,” Gil said.

The Deputy Minister pointed out that the country has strictly followed the drug prohibitionist model with more than two million fumigated hectares over the millennium and one million eradicated manually, 70,000 laboratories destroyed and 6,000 tonnes seized. “Even so, we are seeing historic increases in the flow of cocainethat leave my country overwhelmed with violence,” Gil said.

Colombia chairs this period of sessions and has invited all the ambassadors to a cocktail to inaugurate the four days during which the governing body of drug policy in the world will meet. An opportunity that they will use to expose the new approach to solve the problem that began with a petition that they will carry out with Bolivia.

“Mr. President, put the coca leaf on the list of controlled substances of the 1961 Single Convention this constituted a historic error against the indigenous peoples of the Andes. The plant is not the problem; the plant is part of our history and traditions,” said the Deputy Minister for Multilateral Affairs.

Gil called on members to come up with a review of the coca leaf classification. “In preparation for the Mid-term review of the 2019 Ministerial Declarationwe ask the Commission to understand the moment, each crisis also represents an opportunity,” said the Colombian diplomat.

The petition is brought by the Vice President of Bolivia David Choquehuanca and the government minister, Eduardo del Castillo, who proposed during his administration to obtain the declassification of the coca leaf so that the plant could be freely commercialized, but not its derivatives.

This country will organize on March 14 a round table entitled “The coca leaf and the control of drugs by the United Nations: repairing a historic error”, in which the Colombian Minister of Justice, Néstor Osuna. Before that, there will be a meeting between the Bolivian Vice President and Vice Minister Gil.

The diplomat stressed that the policy of total peace of the government of Gustavo Petro seeks to overcome the armed conflict in the country and “the ultimate goal is not to live with the drug trade but to put an end to it. But the control approach and the enormous resources invested have not produced results in terms of reducing consumption or preventing it.

Gil said that “the new Colombian drug policy will promote the well-being of most vulnerable communities who have suffered the disproportionate impact of repression and criminalization and especially it will favor women heads of families with light sentences, for which we will apply restorative justice measures.

Likewise, it will ask for a gender approach in international drug policy of feminist foreign policy that carries her portfolio. As for the punitive component, it will focus on the important links between drug trafficking and criminal alternatives.

“We want to give new meaning to the principle of common and shared responsibility; We reject the disproportionate burdens imposed on the populations of Latin America and the Caribbean. How can you help us? We need less money for guns and more for agricultural development, with access to northern markets for our farmers,” Deputy Minister Gil said.