The Colombian Conflict began in the mid-1960s and was a low-intensity asymmetric war between Colombian governments, paramilitary groups, crime syndicates, and left-wing guerrillas such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and the National Liberation Army (ELN), fighting each other to increase their influence in Colombian territory.
220,000 people have died in the conflict between 1958 and 2013, most of them civilians (177,307 civilians and 40,787 fighters) and more than five million civilians were forced from their homes between 1985 – 2012, generating the world's second largest population of internally displaced persons (IDPs).
In the 80's, the control of the drug business was a major factor that drove the conflict but most important, it was the politician's stupidity and lack of proper determination to take the right decision in legalizing the drug business that caused that amount of suffering.
LEARNING FROM OTHER'S MISTAKES IS AS IMPORTANT AS A LESSON LEARNED.
Australia needs to wake up. Australia needs to stand up by itself and recognize the need of legalizing the cannabis business to start with. By avoiding a necessary historical step, our politicians are affecting millions of lives and getting behind a technological race that a significant number of countries are already way off ahead.
It is not my intention to number the benefits legalizing the cannabis business in Australia, except one, Colombia faced the criminal war of an unequal society that made its citizens overcome the lack of actions of the political elite. WE MUST AVOID THAT AT ANY COST.
I trust, and I pray that our politicians will wake up and take actions before the crime keeps growing and controlling a multi-billion dollar business that feeds 1.5 millions Australian citizens that smoke weed regularly and must go to the black market while our politicians try to understand where the belly bottom is.
I am a firm believer that the cannabis business is a political matter because it is about personal freedom, the power of choice and as stated by the Mexican government, it is a human right but moreover, as stated in the Unite States is a HUGE business. Just the state of Colorado invoiced $1.2 Billion last year (2016) with a population of 5.4 million souls.
The world is changing very rapidly, the young population will face larger and more complex challenges and by keeping anachronic, agonizing and nonsense laws alive and worst unjustified laws and against proven scientific facts only put our politicians in a very high risk of losing their jobs in a no-far-away coming poll.
Politicians, listen to the people.
Politicians, Join us because those politicians who support the prohibition, who fool around with the time of the needed ones, simply show you are with the crime. Are you?
Ramon Granados Bsc
CEO Ecoplanning
