Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced he supported the use of marijuana for medical use as a means to ease the suffering of terminally ill patients on Thursday, and to deprive criminals of profits from the illegal trade in the drug, according to The Associated Press.
Santos, a proponent of rethinking prohibitionist drug policies, made the announcement at a drug policy forum Thursday in Colombia's capital, Bogota, the AP reported. It was his first major drug policy statement since he won re-election in June.
The battle against drugs has failed because of its high cost in human lives and economic impact for countries like Colombia and Mexico, calling for an alternative expert-led and evidence-based approach, Santos told a forum on illegal drugs in Bogota, the AP reported.
"We look favorably upon your initiative over medicinal and therapeutic use of marijuana," said Santos, referring to a congressional bill by Liberal party Senator Juan Manuel Galan to legalize it, according to the AP. Santos began his second four-year mandate on Aug. 7.
The bill introduced last month by a governing coalition senator is "a practical, compassionate measure to reduce the pain (and) anxiety of patients with terminal illnesses, but also a way of beginning to strip from the hands of criminals the role of intermediary between the patient and the substance that allows them to relieve their suffering," Santos said, the AP reported.
In April, Uruguay legalized marijuana at every stage from production to consumption, according to the AP. In the United States, Washington and Colorado have legalized sales under license of marijuana though federal laws prohibit it.
Colombia was a significant world producer of marijuana in the 1970s before its cultivation was displaced by coca leaves to produce cocaine, a drug whose trafficking and trading the government says is a key source of funding for the country's leftist guerrilla movements, the AP reported.
