White Gold

Medellin

Pablo Escobar

I was planning to spend a week in Medellin then decide where I wanted to live.Either Bogota or Medellin.I had made my mind up after only 2 nights it was gonna be Medellin.This city is so much better.The weather  is great.You get rain most days but it only lasts twenty minutes then its back to sunshine.The people are friendly,everyone wants to help you.I think the good weather makes everyone happy.Medellin is a city of just under 4 million people but its a clean city.Its surrounded by mountains which makes for great views from anywhere in the city.If I am going to teach English then this is the place to do it.Its harder to find work here because theres more people after the same jobs but I don't want to go back to cold grey Bogota.The metro makes it easy to get about the city.Theres still areas that have poverty and are no go zones for the likes of me but thats the same the world over.One guy I know had his wallet stolen on the metro but again that can happen anywhere.I have spoken to a couple of people who have been robbed at knifepoint and  gunpoint but thats just a hazzard of travelling anywhere in South America.I feel safe in general when going about my business but I am always mindful of where I am. Its hard to imagine what life was like in this city when notorious drug baron Pablo Escobar ruled the city.He was from Medellin and he would build schools and football pitches with the money he made,so not everyone disliked him.This guy was the 7th richest man in the world at one point.He had so much money he offered to pay off Colombia's national debt of 13 billion dollars to the US.In 1991 Colombia had over 27,000 violent murders,making it the murder capital of the world.Colombians have been tagged with a violent image because of this but I have found them to be friendly hard working people.The more time I spend here the more I realise how much we are all the same.They go to the supermarkets at the weekend,they drink with friends after work.They have iphones and  there all on facebook.They like to spend time with there families.On sunday the city is empty because everyone stays indoors with there family.I have been told not to wander about to much on my own on a sunday as the winos and junkies are the only people out and about on a sunday.I have only had one person offer me cocaine since I got here.The majority of Colombians  have seen the misery cocaine brought to there country so they don't want it to happen again.Even before I arrived in Colombia I have always thought that drugs should be legalised.Now I am sure this is the correct way forward.They cant stop the drug trade, its supply and demand.The only people who gain from it are the drug barons.If people want to sniff a few lines at the weekend when they are having a drink then that's fine by me.Alcohol is a drug and so are cigarettes.Not everyone who drinks alcohol is an alcoholic the same as not everyone who sniffs coke is a coke addict.Let people make there own choices.They are all grown ups and they know the risks.The Colombian prime minister has said he would be open to talking with other countries about the legalisation of drugs.The US and the UK are the two biggest users of cocaine in the world.As far back as 1998, the former head of Scotland Yards Anti-drug squad, Edward Ellison, was saying that all drugs should be legalised.If the fucking head of Scotland Yard is saying it then surely its worth looking into.The money generated from taxing cocaine could be spent on new schools and hospitals.If Pablo Escobar was the 7th richest man in the world  by flying a few planes full of coke to the US every day then think how much money would be made if it was legit.Its never going to stop.Don't get me wrong theres plenty of people sniffing coke in Colombia.At £6 a gram for the kind of shit that will blow your head off I can see why.But theres more people in the US and UK sniffing coke than there is here.Nothing will stop The White Gold,as they call it,reaching the UK.They might aswell legalise it.Its something I am sure will happen one day.
In the words of Keith Richards  "Ive never had a problem with drugs,Ive had problems with the police"