The Unfulfilled Promises of the “Solution to the Problem of Illicit Drugs”

The 2016 Final Peace Agreement with the FARC-EP articulated a new drug policy aimed at “definitively solving the problem of illicit drugs” in Colombia. At its core, this commitment recognized the illicit drug trade as a key source of funding for the FARC-EP and promised to rebuild the state’s relationship with coca-growing territories and populations. In this paper, we argue that this promise has remained largely unfulfilled. The policy agenda set out in the Agreement—which has broadly guided subsequent governments—has suffered from serious design and implementation flaws, the disruptive effects of post-FARC-EP armed realignments, and the structural limits imposed by a persistent global cocaine demand and a prohibitionist regime. As a result, the policy’s core components largely failed: to reduce the supply of cocaine, the productive inclusion of coca producers, and territorial integration through the provision of public goods in marginalized areas. The evolving geopolitical landscape and transformations in the global illicit drug economy underscore the need to rethink existing policy alternatives.

15-09-2026