'The War on Drugs Has Failed', President Petro Tells the UNGA

On Tuesday, Colombia's President Gustavo Petro called on the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to end the "irrational" war on drugs, which is destroying the Amazon rainforest and harming his country.

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"From my wounded Latin America, I demand that you end the irrational war on drugs. Reducing drug use does not require wars, it requires that we all build a better society," Petro said in his speech.

"The war on drugs has failed... Do you want fewer drugs? Think less about profit and more about love. Think of a rational exercise of power. Do not touch the beauty of my country with your poisons. Help us, without hypocrisy, to save the Amazon rainforest."

"The war on drugs served as an excuse for not taking the necessary measures when more actions should be implemented to save humanity," the Colombian president pointed out, stressing that "without justice, there is no social peace."

During his speech, Petro also stressed that the Amazon jungle is being destroyed through the use of herbicides such as glyphosate, which have been used to eradicate illicit crops.

"To destroy the coca plant, they massively throw poisons such as glyphosate that run through the rivers and imprison farmers. One million Latin Americans are murdered for destroying the coca leaf and two million Afro-Americans are imprisoned," he recalled.

The Amazon "jungle burns while you wage war and play with it," Petro stressed, pointing out that developed countries cling to the use of oil and gas by inventing "one war after another."