Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro recently made global headlines with a provocative statement: “Cocaine is illegal because they make it in Latin America. Cocaine is no worse than whiskey.” While his words stunned international media and angered many Colombians, President Petro has, in his own way, reintroduced one of the most crucial topics into public debate: the legalization of cocaine in Colombia.
As the world’s leading producer of this psychoactive substance, Colombia has suffered for nearly half a century from the scourge of drug trafficking. Behind the often-romanticized images of drug cartels and traffickers lies a reality that is frequently overlooked. Cocaine represents an essential economic chain for hundreds of thousands of people in the country, whose ties to it are closer to subsistence farming than to organized crime.
Here, we aim to provide a comprehensive overview of the cocaine trade in Colombia and explore the pros and cons of potential legalization.
Overview of cocaine production in Colombia
Colombia accounts for 60-70% of the world’s cocaine production. However, the large-scale cultivation of coca is a relatively recent phenomenon in the country’s history. Until the 1980s, this ancestral indigenous plant was mainly grown in the Andean regions of Peru, Bolivia. Local policies aimed at eradicating coca production in those countries soon paved the way for Colombian producers to seize a booming market—one they continue to dominate today.
Since the mid-1990s, Colombia has been the primary producer of coca and cocaine. The latest report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), published in October 2024, revealed that coca cultivation in Colombia reached an all-time record of 253,000 hectares in 2023, up from 45,000 hectares in 1994.
Although it is easy to point fingers at Colombia, it is merely one link in a highly globalized and lucrative market. The surge in production has, in fact, been driven by skyrocketing drug consumption in recent decades, particularly in the U.S. and Europe, but also in emerging markets such as East Asia.
To outsiders, Colombia and cocaine are synonymous with the sinister yet romanticized figures portrayed in telenovelas and international TV series: the Cali Cartel, the Medellín Cartel, and of course, Pablo Escobar and the Ochoa brothers.
However, beyond these traffickers lies a social reality that reflects centuries of structural inequality and poverty in Colombia.
The specter of poverty: The reality of cocaine production in Colombia
According to recent estimates, approximately 400,000 households in Colombia depend on coca cultivation—meaning millions of people. Make no mistake: coca farming bears no resemblance to Western-style agriculture, such as corn or wheat cultivation. It is an extremely artisanal, subsistence-based practice. It is estimated that 60% of coca farmers live in extreme poverty.
For these hundreds of thousands of people, coca cultivation has become an escape route in rural areas that have been marginalized and abandoned by the state, where opportunities are virtually nonexistent. In some ways, the rise of coca farming mirrors the early days of coffee cultivation in Colombia during the 19th century. At the time, hundreds of thousands of farmers ventured into producing this “brown gold,” though very few amassed wealth—except for large landowners.
While coffee cultivation has recently regained favor due to market prices and a more sustainable, modern approach, it has historically been grueling, unprofitable labor, often prompting parents to steer their children toward more lucrative and less demanding jobs.
The same holds true for coca, which is primarily grown in Colombia’s poorest and most neglected regions: the Amazon, the Eastern Plains, and the Pacific Coast.
This reality is not much different in cities. It is estimated that 200,000 Colombians are involved in small-scale drug trafficking within the country. What television series fail to show is that the drug trade is profitable only for a tiny elite at the top. For everyone else, it is a life marked by poverty, danger, and death.
Only the bosses and top-tier traffickers manage to lead relatively comfortable lives, while their armies of “drug soldiers” remain trapped in cycles of poverty and marginalization—whether due to a lack of opportunities, peer pressure, family influence, or simply being born into a world that offers little room for imagination or social mobility.
Poverty is the elephant in the room when discussing the cocaine trade in Colombia. Poverty, marginalization, and the weight of centuries of colonialism and feudal systems have left deep scars on Colombia’s socio-political dynamics. Poverty and exclusion continue to fuel the ranks of urban gang members, armed groups, and guerrillas, which have cemented Colombia’s reputation as a dangerous country.
A financial windfall
With this context in mind, let’s examine what the cocaine trade represents: an enormous flow of money. In 2023, Colombia’s cocaine exports were estimated to be worth $19.3 billion—equivalent to the country’s petroleum exports.
According to a 2019 study by the Centro de Estudios sobre Desarrollo Económico at the Universidad de los Andes, cocaine production accounted for 1.88% of Colombia’s GDP that year.
And that figure does not even include distribution, exports, and money laundering. This colossal sum of money is, in one way or another, reinjected into the legal economy—through wages for low-level traffickers, real estate, restaurants, hospitality, and businesses—all of which generate additional tax revenue for the state. Cocaine has thus become a fundamental part of the Colombian economy, with entire regions dependent on its production.
The case for legalizing coca production
In Colombia, drug consumption, including cocaine, is not criminalized, but regulations prohibit it in certain specific circumstances. Possessing drugs within the legally permitted amounts for personal use is not penalized. The personal-use limit is set at 20 grams of marijuana, five grams of hashish, one gram of cocaine or its derivatives, and two grams of methaqualone.
President Gustavo Petro argues that legalizing coca production would help dismantle the illicit drug trade while providing economic alternatives for farmers. He believes that prohibition has fueled violence and instability in Colombia and that a legal, regulated market could weaken criminal organizations.
His administration has explored policies such as purchasing coca crops from farmers to support a transition to legal economies, aiming to reduce dependence on illicit markets. The government would buy coca leaves to process them into medicinal and therapeutic products, as the plant itself has numerous beneficial properties.
So far, coca production is only authorized for indigenous communities, as the plant is sacred and used in traditional rites, exempting them from authorization requirements.
Colombia’s first left-wing president is not the first to advocate for legalization. Former president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Juan Manuel Santos has long pushed for drug legalization. He argues that after 50 years of prohibition and repression, drug production and trafficking in Colombia remain rampant, proving that current policies are ineffective.
Santos supports regulating the drug market, emphasizing the need to treat drug users as patients rather than criminals and to provide coca farmers with sustainable alternatives to prevent replanting. He cites successful voluntary crop substitution programs from the peace agreement as a model, stating in an interview with El Tiempo, “Legalizing drugs is the only way forward.”
Colombia’s cocaine legalization bill project
Back in 2020, then-Senators Feliciano Valencia and Ivan Marulanda introduced the first bill to regulate the coca leaf and its derivatives, from production to sales—a global first. The bill notably proposed the legalization of the chemical processing of coca leaves into cocaine hydrochloride, which would take place in licensed laboratories, pharmaceutical establishments, or research centers authorized by the Ministry of Health.
The initiative also suggested legalizing the sale of cocaine within Colombia through government-approved pharmacies. Under this system, individuals would need a medical consultation, during which a doctor would assess their physical and mental health before prescribing a personal-use dose that could be obtained from an authorized pharmacy. Any surplus coca leaves not used for domestic consumption would be destroyed under strict government control protocols.
While the bill passed the first committee stage vote in the Senate in April 2021, talks and debates have stalled in recent years.
The Ministry of Justice recently proposed a draft decree to regulate the cultivation of coca for legal industrial, scientific, and research purposes by public entities, with recent declarations by President Petro only likely to reignite the debate.
The reality of the armed conflict
Efforts to regulate the market face a stark reality: the absence of the state. Large swathes of Colombia, particularly rural areas, remain under the control of armed groups—paramilitaries and guerrillas—who dictate the lives, movements, and economies of local populations with an iron grip.
In this sense, Petro’s Total Peace policy and negotiations with armed groups have, so far, been met with cynicism from these criminal organizations, which have used the process to consolidate their power.
According to the UNODC, cocaine production in Colombia has doubled since the 2019 peace accords, mirroring a massive expansion of armed groups like the paramilitary Gulf Clan cartel and the ELN guerrillas. Once driven by ideological motives, these organizations have progressively entered the world of drug trafficking. Once a mere source of income, they now survive solely on this illicit activity, with money and power being the reasons of their longevity.
For instance, the recent resurgence of armed conflict in the Catatumbo region is largely fueled by turf wars between the ELN and FARC dissidents over control of drug routes.
The Dutch example
The Netherlands serves as a cautionary tale of a drug legalization policy that spiraled out of control.
The country’s approach—tolerating soft drugs while cracking down on hard drugs—was designed to separate markets and reduce harm. However, the system allows coffee shops to sell cannabis while prohibiting them from sourcing it legally, creating a supply vacuum that criminal networks have filled.
This contradiction has turned the Netherlands into a major hub for drug trafficking, particularly for synthetic drugs, cocaine, and heroin. Germany’s Federal Criminal Police even identified the country as Europe’s top drug hub, with experts warning that it risks becoming a narco-state.
Colombia could face a similar fate if legalization merely strengthens the armed groups that already control production and distribution, especially given the state’s minimal presence in coca-growing regions. This could further entrench their power in future peace negotiations.
Cocaine and drug legalization: Beyond Colombia, a global debate
When it comes to cocaine legalization, Colombia is far from the only country with a stake in the discussion. Like other pressing global issues such as migration or climate change, the question of drug trafficking is a transnational one, involving producer countries, transit countries, and consumer countries—each with its own beneficiaries and victims.
According to the UNODC, North America and Europe are the primary markets for cocaine, both in terms of value and consumption, accounting for 28% and 24% of global demand, respectively. The EU’s drug agency estimates that the European cocaine market is worth 11.6 billion euros (almost $12 billion), while the U.S. cocaine market was valued at $34 billion back in 2013—a figure that is likely much higher today.
While the debate over legalization is ongoing in both producing and consuming countries, the official stance remains largely opposed—especially among consumer nations. With Donald Trump returning to office, the U.S. might take a harsher stance against drug-producing countries like Colombia, as it did during his first term, pushing for increased fumigation and crop eradication efforts.
However, given the ongoing tensions and ideological differences between Petro and Trump, the future of this issue remains uncertain—particularly as U.S. attention is now focused on combating the devastating effects of synthetic drugs like fentanyl, which is distributed by Mexican cartels.
Final considerations
Perhaps one of the most tragic aspects of the legalization debate is the impact it has had on ordinary Colombians, many of whom have spent their lives burdened by stereotypes linked to the drug trade. Even today, the first things that come to mind when people mention Colombia are cocaine and Pablo Escobar—two sinister associations that have haunted millions of Colombians, whether travelers, expatriates, or professionals, across the world.
While cocaine is an undeniable social reality in Colombia—one that reflects the country’s most violent and painful history—it is also a persistent stigma that closes doors for Colombians seeking to thrive in a globalized world.