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Coca, Cocaine and the International Conventions

April 2003

It is no understatement to claim that there are few plants subject to such tensions as the coca leaf, either in legal and political circuits, or in the medical and anthropological academic world. Before, during and after its inclusion in the number 1 list of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, the controversy on whether the coca leaf is or is not to be considered a narcotic drug, worthy of control by the international institutions and mechanisms, reached apparent irreconcilable positions.

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Recommendations

  • That an independent expert study takes place to revise the competence of existing definitions in the drug control conventions, with particular reference to the coca leaf and its different derivatives. This implies a re-evaluation of the UN 1950 study.
  • Equal treatment on the demand and supply sides, securing equal latitude for both and permitting a differentiation in national policies for both sides of the spectrum.
Series: 
Drug Policy Briefing No. 5

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