Pablo Escobar tried to bomb me in Bogotá. To stop the cartels infiltrating Europe, we should legalise cocaine | Letter
Former British ambassador to Colombia Keith Morris, who survived an assassination attempt by Pablo Escobar, has called for the legalization of cocaine to combat organized crime.
The former British ambassador to Colombia, Keith Morris, has written to The Guardian advocating for cocaine legalization, citing the failure of the war on drugs and his personal experience with drug lord Pablo Escobar. Morris, who survived an assassination attempt when an Escobar-ordered car bomb destroyed a boardroom he had just left in 1993, emphasized the dramatic increase in cocaine trade over the past decade.
Failed War on Drugs
Morris highlighted how the fivefold increase in cocaine trade has boosted organized crime in both Latin America and Europe. He noted that aggressive law enforcement has damaged producer and transit countries without reducing drug flow to consumer nations. The former diplomat first called for drug legalization in 2001, arguing that prohibition creates incentives too great to overcome.
I have followed the 'war on drugs' pretty closely since I was the British ambassador to Colombia in the heyday of Pablo Escobar, but I was still shocked to learn of the scale of the Latin American criminal presence in Europe.
Legalization Models
The former ambassador pointed to successful cannabis legalization in Canada, Uruguay, and over 20 US states as possible models for cocaine regulation. Despite concerns about synthetic drugs like fentanyl, which accounted for 48,000 of 80,000 US drug overdose deaths in 2024 (with cocaine involved in 22,000), Morris argued that legally controlled cocaine could be safer and reduce associated violence and corruption.
Now approaching 92 years old, Morris feels an obligation to continue advocating for this policy change following his narrow escape from the 1993 bombing that claimed the lives of his colleagues.
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