Drugs Are a Gringo Business

I am an addict. For many years I was a slave to alcohol and cocaine.

I didn’t like marijuana because it made me feel sluggish. I never tried crack. I kept from dying, going crazy or living in the street thanks to God, my family, therapists and Alcoholics Anonymous. That and a bit of good will, humility, and recognizing that I was ill. I work 24 hours a day. Addiction is an illness that does push-ups in my brain while I sleep, and I have to be alert every day.

Maybe because I was an addict and lived in that hell, I was always adamantly opposed to the legalization of drugs. But after years of working in rehabilitation centers and attending funerals of those who succumbed to addiction’s grip, I seem to have changed. Let me explain: The war on drugs is a rampant business carried on by the United States and certain European countries. If there is no war, there are no arms sales. If the war ends and there is legalization, multinational traffickers will perish. Peace is not good business.

It is strange to see a museum in Amsterdam dedicated to marijuana, while people in our country die poisoned from fumigation. Scorched earth. It is strange to learn that for decades California has been producing select varieties of marijuana and now wants to legalize it simply out of fear that the Mexican violence is getting too close.

There is not the slightest doubt that alcohol is a drug in liquid form. It causes more deaths than any other: from accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, pancreatitis and neurological damage. But alcohol is sold freely because the USA and Europe hold the reins. Tobacco blocks people’s lungs and causes them to suffocate. But it is freely sold. They simply put “Smoke kills” on the box. The American and European multinationals manage the money. They are also the countries that sell the arms that here the Latin Americans use to kill each other like flies and continue soaking our soil with blood.

I have never seen massive deaths caused by the consumption of cocaine or marijuana. Lamentably, I have seen the occasional tragedy. But alcohol is the exact opposite, the most devious and tenacious of addictions. Yet we keep drinking “legally” while we risk being locked up if we smoke herb.

I completely agree with President Santos that we need to reevaluate our policies toward “illicit” drugs. Those who wish to do drugs will do so. The gangsters almost never do. They are arrested if they are caught with a joint in their mouths or with a white nose. Imagine if all the countries of this continent were to unite, cast aside their fear and speak out frankly. It is time — better late than never — to change our attitude toward this business. It would seem that dead Latinos mean nothing, while we almost never see the demise of a trafficker “made in the USA.” The important thing is that Colombia includes in its healthcare system accredited rehabilitation centers because this is an issue of public health, like cholera or diabetes. Put an end to the fly-by-night centers or those operating from garages, that swarm like termites, precisely because they are unregulated. I would like to hear what Senator Benedetti has to say about this, or what Dr. Miguel Bettin, one of the top authorities on addiction, would suggest. President Santos: You are not alone.