Francisco Santos Calderon: Your cocaine habit is destroying my country

Cocaine might seem like the recreational drug of choice for the middle classes. Everywhere I go in Britain, I hear that consumption is increasing at an amazing rate. Seizures have gone up like never before as the drug traffickers open new routes via Africa to feed the European demand. Portugal has seized 30 tons so far this year as we are confronted by what is probably the biggest multinational operating in the world.

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But this is not a champagne drug without harmful effects. And the adverse effects are not only felt in Britain. Cocaine consumption in Britain is having a direct impact in Colombia, where the illegal drugs industry is responsible for displacement, kidnapping, terrorism and mutilation from landmines.

I visited Birmingham and Basingstoke this week before launching my government's "shared responsibility" initiative yesterday in which we are telling people that British drug takers are killing Colombians. We have been doing our share, in terms of tackling the demand. We are spending 1 per cent of GDP on the fight against drugs. We believe the consumer countries should share the burden. Imagine what that would mean if Britain spent 1 per cent of its GDP in combating illegal drugs.

The people who came to the meetings heard for the first time that one night of partying kills people. That is what we are saying to the public. To governments we say, let's work together to reduce demand, let's put information in people's minds. Let's make them aware of the dramatic impact that a night of partying can have in a family that's displaced, in a family that has a mine victim or a kidnap victim or a terror victim.

I brought five Colombian victims of the drugs trade with me to Britain. Natalia Rodriguez is a kidnap victim, who was held by the Farc guerrillas for three years until she was almost 19. Aura Amelia Abril was a councillor who was forced to flee to Bogotá with her husband and three children. Paola Carrillo survived a bomb attack in 2003 that killed her brother and her best friend along with 34 other people. The attack was carried out by the Farc, an illegal armed group financed by the production and sale of cocaine.

Emperatriz de Guevara is a Colombian woman whose son, Police Captain Julián Guevara, died in captivity after being captured by the Farc during an attack in Mitú in 1998. She is still waiting for his remains to be returned, eight years later. And Olinda Giron was maimed by a landmine as she worked in the small family farm in Cauca, southern Colombia, three years ago. She lost her sight and the mobility in her right hand.

The lives of these Colombians have been blighted by consumers of cocaine in faraway places. The people in Basingstoke were surprised, they didn't realise the damage they're doing. There was a young girl battling a cocaine crack addiction and she said: "This helps me fight this very difficult battle with addiction."

Cocaine is a mid-end consumer type of product, and these are intelligent people. We believe that if you put information in their minds they can make a rational choice.

But what really worries us is that consumption is really booming. We have seized assets like never before. We have airsprayed like never before, we have eradicated coca crops like never before. We have extradited more than 400 people involved in drug trafficking in the past four years. The costs of this crime are increasing, but there is so much money involved that there is always someone ready to step up to the plate. And meanwhile, the Farc is placing landmines all over cultivation areas, laboratories and export routes.

We reduced the cocaine production acreage by half, but the illegal drugs producers became more efficient. They did exactly what a farmer would do - they put more plants per acreage and increased productivity. So that reduction in acreage did not produce a reduction in cocaine.

Yesterday, in London, I met the heads of drug policy from all over Europe to discuss how we can move beyond containing the problem. I hope this will be the start of a permanent dialogue that can lead to campaigns in their countries and real effects so that we can start a new level of dialogue about how to deal with the problem, not only in terms of consumption here but also in terms of co-operation.

My government's policy is very tough on drugs.There is much room for improvement. We are looking at placing more emphasis on development through legal alternative crops, so that the vicious circle of illegality, crime and drugs can be broken. But the traffickers need to know that we will continue to pursue them.

The writer is vice-president of Colombia