Español“I think we need to go ahead and get rid of this damn drug-trafficking business that has done so much damage already,” Colombian Senator Roy Barreras said on Wednesday, June 10.

The senator added that we he would soon propose an amendment to the current medical marijuana bill being debated in Congress to expand decriminalization to include recreational purposes.

Barreras, of the conservative-leaning Social Party of National Unity, would therefore join the efforts of Senator Juan Manuel Galán from the Liberal Party. Colombia’s Congress is scheduled to resume debate on the initiative on July 20.

“It’s a complex issue because parents feel anxious and worry, and they think that their children are going to become marijuana addicts overnight. But I explain to them, with total sincerity, that their children are not alcoholics even though alcohol is legal right now,” Barerras said.

“It is prohibition that creates mafias,” he continued, explaining that decriminalizing marijuana is the “first step” towards putting an end to narco-trafficking. The senator went further by saying that he believes Colombia should prepare to take “more advanced” measures, such as ending the prohibition of cocaine.

In November 2014, while the Senate debated a bill on medical marijuana, Barreras brought his colleagues a tray full of coca tea to share.

“We can instantly begin to live in a country without guerrilla by ending the narco-trafficking business. Since Senator Galán had the bright idea to take the first step toward medical marijuana, I think we need to move forward,” Barreras concluded.

Source: El Espectador.