Political Challenges Posed by the Failure of Prohibition

After a slight dip in coca production during 2003 and 2004, the Andean region has returned to the historical average of 200,000 hectares of coca crops. Added to this is the sharp increase in the expansion of drug trafficking toward other countries in the region, such as Ecuador and Venezuela, as well as new areas of Central America and the Caribbean. The failure of Washington’s drug policy has enabled illegal globalisation to expand its foothold in the hemisphere, with a negative impact.

With this in mind, TNI associate researcher Ricardo Vargas, describes the lack of true public debate on drugs, especially in a country as involved in this problem as Colombia. Given the failure of policy and the complexity of the situation, different schools of political thought once again raise the easy option of legalisation, a proposal that actually conceals the lack of alternative critical thinking focused on the development of a national and regional policy.