Eighteen months ago Bolivian President Evo Morales formally requested an amendment to the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs to lift the ban on coca leaf-chewing in his country. The 1961 convention stipulated that the practice would be phased out within 25 years of its 1964 passage.
The convention restriction was based on a "blatantly racist" report, according to several advocacy groups, but Morales believes the ban is antithetical to the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Despite classification as a dangerous narcotic as the raw material used in the production of cocaine, coca leaves have been chewed by indigenous peoples in the Andes for thousands of years. Chewed or brewed into tea, leaves are used to combat altitude sickness, suppress hunger and fatigue, and as a mild stimulant.
As with all such formal requests to amend a U.N. convention, time is set aside for member nations to file an objection to the proposed amendment. With only two weeks left until the deadline of January 31st, the US is expected to push this week for a continued international ban on coca leaf chewing.
According to an account of the U.S.’s latest clash with Bolivia over drug policy, The Guardian reports:
Scientists have found that chewing coca is not harmful to health. It takes 200kg of coca, and a lot of chemicals, to produce 1kg of cocaine. Liberal advocacy groups such as the Washington Office on Latin America and the Transnational Institute, among others, have attacked the UN ban.
"The international community needs to get its priorities right and resist this culturally ignorant attempt to dictate to indigenous people in Bolivia," said Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn.
The European Union's stance remains unclear but Bolivian lobbying appears to have convinced Colombia and Macedonia to withdraw objections to its amendment, leaving the US potentially isolated.
Although Morales has worked cooperatively with coca growers during his presidency to develop other coca-based products, including an energy drink launched this week, Bolivia retains its ban on cocaine, which uses coca leaves as its base and requires an assortment of chemicals to produce, and leaves cannot legally be exported.
Morales has spoken out extensively in favor of his U.N. Amendment on behalf of Bolivia as well as other Andean countries:
"Coca leaf chewing is one of the socio-cultural practices and rituals of the Andean indigenous peoples. It is closely linked to our history and cultural identity," President Morales wrote in a letter to the UN seeking the amendment. This traditional practice "cannot and should not be prohibited," he added.
"At a time when drug prohibition has enriched and emboldened criminal cartels to such an extent that they are attempting to violently annex the state in parts of Mexico and Guatemala, the US is expending considerable effort in blocking the Bolivian government’s legitimate and democratic right to protect and preserve a harmless indigenous practice," said British MP Jeremy Corbin, secretary o the All Party Parliamentary Group on Bolivia. "The international community needs to get its priorities right and resist this culturally ignorant attempt to dictate to indigenous people in Bolivia."
Other stories on the U.S. attempt to block Bolivia's U.N. Amendment can be found at
CNS News, Transnational Institute, and The Canadian Press