Cocaine is ‘no worse than whisky,’ Colombian president says | CNN

8 comments

1. I mean, if you consume similar amounts in terms of street value, that’s probably true.

   In fact dollar to dollar I’m guessing whisky would do much more damage no?

   Can a doctor or biologist or something weigh in on this?

2. It may look like a bold statement, but only because we have normalized the harm caused by alcohol. [Taylor, M., Mackay, K., Murphy, J., McIntosh, A., McIntosh, C., Anderson, S., & Welch, K. (2012). Quantifying the RR of harm to self and others from substance misuse: results from a survey of clinical experts across Scotland. BMJ Open, 2(4), e000774](https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2011-000774) – ([this link for direct visualization of the main result](https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/bmjopen/2/4/e000774/F3.large.jpg)).

   However, President Petro obviously has it backward. We should not consume cocaine just because it’s no worse than whisky. We should avoid consuming both. Well, that is, if we consider public health. If we speak about economics, Colombia is obviously incentivized to lobby for the legalization of cocaine.

3. I love both.

   If you do both to exceed you’re fucked. In a situation where it was legal and cocaine was just cocaine, you’d be fine so long as it was used irregularly.

   What fucks people is the whisky you get is whisky and the coke you get is Fentanyl.

4. He said, looking defensive with a aggressive air and lightly sniffing. Later on, he was relieved that the video of what he’d done for that campaign donation remained unshared. 

5. I would bet money many magnitudes more people have died from whisky than from cocaine throughout human history. Now which one is “worse” is more a subjective debate that either side could win. As a recovering alcoholic and coke addict, I had a much harder time quitting one than the other. That was just my experience. I didn’t run into anyone in rehab who was only there for cocaine any of the three times I went.

6. I agree. Keeping it criminalized only helps cartels and hurts chronic users. It should be legalized and regulated, with strong treatment programs. Alcohol is extremely dangerous, but we accept it because that’s just what our culture developed around for millenia.

   I like whiskey just fine and am not curious to try coke, but that’s not because of some rational reasoning. It’s because that’s what I’ve been conditioned into.

7. I mean, he’s the president of Colombia, not Scotland. Bigger exports improves economy. It’s like saying “president of Bulgaria says yogurt is great for your health”, “German Chancellor says Mercedes is no worse than Lexus” or “French President says being an arrogant prick with a moustache and a beret is actually great”.

8. It’s been said frequently that if alcohol was suddenly just invented it would be banned immediately. It is so harmful. But it’s also a normal part of our world.

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