Colombian President Gustavo Petro has said that “cocaine is no worse than whiskey” as the production of coca, the drug’s base ingredient, surges under his presidency. Petro, a leftist former guerrilla group member who has previously called the US-led war on drugs a failure,

Colombian President Gustavo Petro stated that cocaine is illegal primarily due to its Latin American origin, not because it is worse than whisky. He suggested that legalisation could dismantle the drug trade and highlighted the opioid fentanyl as a greater issue in the US.