Drug use increases in Colombia after pandemic

In Colombia, the problem against the trafficking and consumption of illegal drugs has not stopped even with the Covid-19 pandemic and the strict quarantine the country has known for more than three months.

Since 1920, the marketing and consumption of cocaine, heroin and laudanum have been banned in the country. However, since the 1960s, the country has seen the hippie movement with an increase in the use of marijuana.

During the last decade, the consumption of synthetic drugs has increased dramatically, to the point that it has not been possible to calculate exact figures.

Colombia has had drug use proportional to its development, but it is one of the countries that invest the least in prevention and attention to consumption (3%) and more in prohibition (95%) , according to Ruta Futuro, the anti-drug of this government. Politics.

“To have the cheapest drugs in the world and so little investment in prevention, it is a miracle that the problem is not more serious,” Julian Quintero, director of Acción Técnica Social, told the newspaper national El Tiempo.

During the pandemic, the process of purchasing substances accelerated. According to a survey conducted by the Corporación Acción Técnica Social and its Échele Cabeza project, during the third week of quarantine, around 12% of transactions were paid for through virtual apps and 27% of people received their medicines by delivery and delivery. home. companies.

According to the Colombian Ministry of Justice, “the consumption of psychoactive substances in the country is a critical problem, not only because of the systematic increase indicated by the available studies, but also because its characteristics make it a complex problem with many serious repercussions on public health. and social; the consumption of illicit drugs is increasing in the country not only because more and more people use them, but also because the market for substances is more and more vast and diversified ”.

To illustrate what is happening in the country, in Cartagena de Indias recently seven young people, including a minor, are in the intensive care unit for the exacerbated consumption of a new synthetic drug in the form of pink powder which is marketed in the city.

According to information provided by the Ministry of Health, at least 30 other young people in different parts of Cartagena have consumed the substance.