Pubdate: Wed, 24 May 2006
Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)
Copyright: 2006 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Contact:  http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/
Author:  Marcela Sanchez
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

MORALES HAS NEW DRUG-FIGHTING STRATEGY

WASHINGTON -- If Bolivian President Evo Morales has his way, you may 
find yourself soon ordering a cup of mate de coca instead of your 
morning cappuccino at your favorite cafe.

Morales wants to give thousands of Bolivian coca growers access to 
new markets. He envisions an expanded use for coca as an ingredient 
in beverages, chewing gum, toothpaste and as a food-flavoring agent. 
Traditionally, the leaf has been used in the Andean region to stave 
off hunger, cold and fatigue as well as for medicinal and sacred 
practices. More recently, the illegal drug trade has transformed coca 
into the lucrative drug cocaine.

Morales' plan is the second of a two-pillared drug-fighting strategy. 
The first is the continuation of conventional methods of cocaine 
interdiction as well as the crackdown on drug traffickers, money 
laundering and the importation of chemicals used to make cocaine. 
Bolivian officials say that some of those conventional efforts 
already have yielded greater results than in years past.

The second pillar, the so-called revalorization of the coca leaf, is 
the problem. Since the 1961 U.N. Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 
coca itself has been classified as an illegal substance as harmful as 
cocaine or heroin. Morales and many others see this classification as 
a historical error that needs to be corrected.

"Coca is not cocaine," Morales told the European Parliament last 
week. How can it be possible, he asked, "that coca is legal for 
Coca-Cola but it isn't for native peoples and peasants?" Under a 
special exception in the 1961 Convention, the use of coca leaves as a 
flavoring agent without their alkaloid component is permissible, an 
exception that Coca-Cola continues to take advantage of.

Bolivian officials brought a similar message to Washington recently. 
During a meeting of the Organization of American States' 
Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission, Mauricio Dorfler 
Ocampo, Bolivia's vice minister for foreign affairs, asked the 
international community to distinguish between the leaf's legal and 
illegal uses. He also asked for a change of coca's status in 
international conventions in order to help his government provide 
coca growers with viable alternatives to make a living.

So far their request has been received with skepticism on both sides 
of the Atlantic. Officials fear that legitimizing the leaf will 
undermine the overall drug war. It would also be a symbolic defeat, 
as Bolivia would surely rise in the ranks of top coca producers after 
recent and highly praised reductions.

In Washington, officials believe production is increasing already. 
Anne Patterson, assistant secretary for international narcotics and 
law enforcement affairs, says Morales' commitment to coca eradication 
is "lackluster." On a recent visit to La Paz, she told Bolivian 
officials that current eradication rates are now half of what they 
were in 2005.

Officials from other countries in the Americas also have expressed 
concerns that Morales' plans would mostly favor illegal drug 
trafficking. Specifically, they fear a worsening of its corrosive 
effects in their own streets -- where gun-related violence fueled by 
the cocaine trade is on the rise as this week's Sao Paulo killings 
demonstrated.

Under current Bolivian law, cocaleros can legally grow up to 12,000 
hectares for traditional domestic consumption, namely coca tea and 
coca chewing. The European Union has agreed to fund a study to 
determine a more accurate measurement. Morales sees the study as an 
opportunity to ensure that the 12,000 figure will increase.

One might say that by arguing that more cultivation is needed, 
Morales already is recognizing defeat in efforts to stem the supply 
of coca leaves for the illegal market. Also, it seems naive to think 
that encouraging coca growers to produce crops for products yet to be 
marketed would be any more successful than crop substitution has been 
for overall reduction of illicit use of coca. Meanwhile, drug 
traffickers, with their highly sophisticated means for developing and 
delivering their product worldwide, would be the first to profit from 
increased production.

Morales embodies a fundamental change of power in Bolivia that, as he 
likes to proclaim, is putting the country in the hands of its 
rightful owners, the indigenous majority. As part of that change, 
Morales is expected to assert control over the lands and resources of 
his ancestors. Morales already has nationalized the hydrocarbon 
industry. For coca, he wants to develop alternative products.

Yet, the former leader of a coca growers association has a way to go 
in convincing the international community that his plan is a novel 
approach to combat drugs by promoting alternative uses rather than 
continuing attacks on indigenous coca suppliers.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman