Nobel Peace Prize: Santos calls for 'rethink' of war on drugs

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Nobel Peace Prize: Santos calls for 'rethink' of war on drugs

10 December 2016

By BBC News

The President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, has used his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech to call for the world to "rethink" the war on drugs.

He said the zero-tolerance policy might be "even more harmful" than all the other wars being fought worldwide.

Mr Santos' government and the country's biggest rebel group, the Farc, signed a peace deal last month.

The conflict it ends has killed more than 260,000 people and left millions internally displaced.

Accepting the prize for his efforts in the peace process, Mr Santos paid tribute to the families of victims of the conflict.

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"We have moral authority to state that, after decades of fighting against drug trafficking, the world has still been unable to control this scourge that fuels violence and corruption throughout our global community," he said.

"It makes no sense to imprison a peasant who grows marijuana, when nowadays, for example, its cultivation and use are legal in eight states of the United States.

"The manner in which this war against drugs is being waged is equally or perhaps even more harmful than all the wars the world is fighting today, combined."

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