Pubdate: Sun, 13 Jan 2013
Source: Observer, The (UK)
Copyright: 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited
Contact:  http://www.observer.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/315
Author: Jamie Doward

DRUGS DISPUTE AS THE BOLIVIANS DEMAND RIGHT TO CHEW COCA

A major international row with wideranging implications for global
drugs policy has erupted over the right of Bolivia's indigenous Indian
tribes to chew coca leaves, the principal ingredient in cocaine.

On Friday, Bolivia obtained a special exemption from the 1961 single
convention on narcotic drugs, the framework that governs international
drugs policy, allowing its indigenous people to chew the leaves.

Bolivia had argued that the convention was in opposition to its new
constitution, adopted in 2009, which obliges it to "protect native and
ancestral coca as cultural patrimony" and maintains that coca "in its
natural state ... is not a narcotic".

South American Indians have chewed coca leaves for centuries. The
leaves reputedly provide energy and are said to have medicinal
qualities. Supporters of Bolivia's position praised it for standing up
for the rights of indigenous people. "The Bolivian move is
inspirational and ground-breaking," said Danny Kushlick, head of
external affairs at the Transform Drug Policy Foundation, which
promotes drug liberalisation. "It shows that any country that has had
enough of the war on drugs can change the terms of its engagement with
the UN conventions."

However, the UN's International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), which
monitors implementation of the global drug treaties, has accused
Bolivia of threatening the integrity of the international drug control
regime. A number of countries  including the UK, the US, Italy,
Sweden, the Netherlands and Russia  opposed Bolivia's demands.

The UK's submission to the UN, which oversees the convention, said
that it "acknowledges and respects the cultural importance of the coca
leaf in Bolivia", but it adds: "The United Kingdom is ... concerned
that the reservation could lead to increases in coca production and
crucially  the amount of coca diverted to the cocaine trade. As such,
the reservation would weaken international law as it relates to the
global effort to tackle the drugs trade and could weaken the
international community's response to that trade."

The right of indigenous communities in South America's Andean region
to chew coca leaf was removed in 1964 when Bolivia was under a
dictatorship and it signed up to the convention. But under the terms
of the agreement Bolivia was given 25 years to implement the ban. This
expired in 1989, and since then the issue has been under dispute.

In 2011, Bolivia  whose president, Evo Morales, is a former coca
producer  formally notified the UN of its withdrawal from the
convention. On Friday it reacceded to the convention, but with an
exemption from the prohibition on the chewing of coca leaves.

The move is the first of its kind in the history of UN drug-control
treaties and has sparked concerns that other countries may apply for
amendments. The Russian government has argued that the move will lead
to "an increase in illegal circulation of cocaine". The British
parliament's home affairs select committee recommended last month that
Bolivia's request should be backed by the UK government, arguing that
it was important that countries remained within the single convention.

The growing of coca leaves is legal and licensed in Bolivia. The
policy has been credited with a fall in cocaine production in the
country, leading some experts to see the Bolivian model as a way
forward for other countries. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D