Colombia truth commission urges drug policy change to end violence

FILE PHOTO: Soldiers stand guard next to packages containing cocaine after Colombian police seized more than six tonnes of the drug, in Barranquilla, Colombia April 2, 2017. Colombian Police/Handout via REUTERS

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian leaders must recognize how drug trafficking has penetrated the country's culture, economy and politics and how the global war on drugs is driving its internal armed conflict, Colombia's truth commission said on Tuesday in a long-awaited report.

The commission, established as part of a 2016 peace deal between the government and the now-demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels, urged the country to reassess the role of drugs in its almost 60-year internal conflict.