Colombia and it's misconception

One major cultural context that I want to discuss about Colombia, is how most people who are not from this country label and assume all Colombians as "drug addicts" or have some kind of connection to the drug cartel. This is one MASSIVE negative assumption that sets a false image for the country. I personally have experienced many cases where people tell me if I have some kind of connection with drugs, and actually, last school year I went to say hi to a new student, and the first thing he asked me was "Hey, where are you from" and after I proceeded to answer, the first thing he said was "oh yea drugs, and Pablo Escobar right? needless to say, I never spoke to him again...

As my family has connections and friends here in Abu Dhabi who are all Colombian, you can probably spend hours just talking about all the misconceptions everyone has on us, so it's not just a personal thing but a very big cultural group that is affected. One statement that most of us will probably say to you would be that even though there is still a big production and export of things such as cocaine, we are not the ones using it, but it is (statistically, not an assumption) shown that the U.S is the one driving up the demand and using it. Around 90% of those drugs are used in the U.S alone.
According to my very limited prior knowledge and a recent 10 minute research on this topic, Pablo Escobar, who was considered one of the richest and most powerful criminals in the world, who is the person some people associate Colombia with as a "whole", died in 1993. And his prime years were he caused massive damage and controversy with his claim on a spot in the government and as a president where in the 70s and 80s. If my Math Standard level knowledge and calculations are right, then, that all occurred over 30 years ago and completely stopped around 15 years ago. Colombia has definitely moved on from this and has acted upon fixing their international image, Since 2001 their production of drugs like cocaine have dropped 72% and that was just until 2010, so it is definitely still decreasing and things are changing. The media hasn't exactly helped much clearing this misconception but instead strengthen it with articles and movies showing a negative view on Colombia. Peace talks with FARC (guerrilla group) has been done and to be finished later this year but the world fails to acknowledge the positive progress the country is in and decide to stick with their negative beliefs and overview on the country.  

In my case the only thing I know about this topic is from the show "Breaking Bad" and it's doesn't even mention the right drug, but it does definitely include Colombians as some of the characters in which  they do deals with. Although I am pretty laid back with these stereotypes and misconceptions, if we haven't met before and this topic is brought up at first meeting then your chances of me talking to you again decreases by around 90%. This is because it is a very tiresome topic to be discussing and correcting, with drugs and past wars having led to Colombia losing the lives of a million, five decades of fighting back against these  terrorist groups and billions of dollars going into defeating terrorism and drug related crimes.

Understanding that Colombia has driven away from the drug trafficking past can definitely lead to better communication and maybe even a little smile and acknowledgment from all Colombians that you have a better personality and education background.

Also one last thing to end my rant..... its ColOmbia NOT ColUmbia, seriously, it's a very simple concept.