:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/YFLMKFFX6Y7GANU3QPPAW7Z7UA.jpg "‘We envision the fair and responsible regulation of the coca leaf’: Minister of Justice")
During his speech at the event Coca Leaf and UN Drug Control: Fixing a Historical Wrong the minister of justice, Nestor Osunashed light on what will be the anti-drug policy of the government of Gustavo Petro.
Among the priorities is the legalization of the coca leaf and the regulation of its legal uses. It was a space organized by Bolivia as a parallel activity to the second day of the 66th session of the Narcotics Commission (CND) which takes place in Vienna (Austria).
The Minister of Justice has warned that the new drug policy of the government of Gustavo Petro aims to take care of life and envisages a just and responsible regulation of the coca leaf and its legal uses in the industry, the medicine, food, promotion of research and knowledge management on plants and the communities that use them.
“Hablar de un política de drogas en el contexto de la Paz Total means a distinct approach to the hoja de coca, pasando de un modelo donde se concebía as the ‘mata que mata’ has a paradigma donde se convierte en una planta al servicio de the peace. This implies not only valuing its ancestral and millennial uses, but also promoting its multiple potential uses in food, medicine and industry, as a contribution to rural development, to overcoming territorial vulnerabilities and, in this sense , to the consolidation of total peace in Colombia. said Minister Osuna.
The Minister also pointed out that the national government maintains that the legalization of the coca leaf “is part of a path towards reconciliation, abandoning the punitive approach which has persecuted the weak links in the chain of drug trafficking: peasants, indigenous coca producers and consumers”. ”. Osuna also insisted that the executive reiterated the importance of differentiating coca leaf from cocaine, warning that this “confusion” has hampered opportunities to explore potential uses of the coca leaf.
“We will promote research and knowledge management on plants and the communities that use them. Innovation and training in good production practices will also be strategic areas for exploring the outlets for these products. We celebrate the courageous stand and leadership of the sister state of Bolivia, for bringing the value of the uses of the coca leaf to the world. »
These statements by Minister Osuna resonate and are in line with what the now former Deputy Minister of Multilateral Affairs Laura Gil said at the first meeting of the Narcotics Commission. Gil asked that it be put on the table to acknowledge as a mistake 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 former deputy minister also warned 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.