Beckley International Drug Policy Seminar

Martin Jelsma presented the Bolivian government’s concerns at the inappropriate scheduling of Coca Leaf within the conventions.

Coca leaf was included in Schedule I of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, hence it became an illegal substance. The appropriateness of this decision has been debated since the adoption of the Single Convention. Coca leaf cultivation and consumption have been prevalent and culturally embedded in the Andean region for a long time. Despite the 25 years of transition period to phase out cultivation and consumption allowed by the 1961 Convention, the tradition is still alive. Coca leaf is sill considered to be a sacred plant and a traditional facet of Andean culture. In some of the South American countries national legislations protect this tradition; hence they contradict the stipulations of international legislation. The need to settle this contradiction has often come forward at particular sessions of the CND, but the formal revision of the Schedules of the Conventions has never taken place.

The current Bolivian government allows legal farming of coca and consequently there is a realistic opportunity that the issue will be brought to the UN again in the near future. It is realised in Bolivia now that the move to prohibit coca was a great error in policy, which was based on outmoded scientific information. The UN mechanism has long ignored scientific reports such as, for instance, the WHO Cocaine Research Project, which has found that traditional patterns of use of Coca have not been detrimental to health or social cohesion. Further to the dismissal of scientific evidence, the Conventions are particularly stringent about the coca plant, while other stimulant plants, for example ephedra, are not mentioned at all.

The Bolivian government now wishes to reduce cocaine use by making coca more available, expanding its use in tea and chewing of the leaf. In order to pursue this policy, Bolivia can ask for the Single Convention to be reviewed with reference to coca at the UNGASS. The prospects for success are not great at the moment, mostly because withdrawing a substance from Schedules of a Convention has a symbolic meaning, which is politically and procedurally difficult. However, even if the attempt fails, it will open debate and expose the flawed nature of the scheduling of substances within the Conventions, which make no distinction between mild natural stimulants and concentrated industrial stimulants.

See: Report of the Third Beckley International Drug Policy Seminar