Coca

The coca-cocaine issue has gained momentum by the ascending of a peasant leader to the presidency in Bolivia, who announced making a case for the de-scheduling of the coca leaf from it's current classification as a dangerous narcotic drug in the international drug control conventions. Time has come to clarify long standing confusion on the distinction between the coca leaf and its principal derivative cocaine.

Colombia: A successful case for the war on drugs?

January 2011

Ricardo Vargas

Is Colombia's narcotrafficking situation comparable to that of Mexico, including the strategies needed to combat it?

Correcting a historical error

January 2011

Drugs and Democracy

In 2009, the Bolivian government requested that the United Nations amend the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs to end the unjustified ban on coca leaf chewing while maintaining the strict global control system for coca cultivation and cocaine. The 18-month period to contest Bolivia’s...

The WHO cocaine project

February 2010

TNI

In 1995 the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) announced in a press release the publication of the results of the largest global study on cocaine use ever undertaken.

Coca Myths

June 2009

Pien Metaal

Anthony Henman

The present issue of Drugs & Conflict intends to debunk and disentangle the most prominent myths surrounding the coca leaf. It aims to clear the air and help steer the debate towards a more evidence-based judgement of the issues.

Drugs & Conflict Debate Papers Nr. 17

Towards a world market for coca leaf?

June 2009

TNI

Pien Metaal

When we think of people like Pope Paul VI, the Queen of Spain or Britain’s Princess Anne, most of us do not think of them as criminals. But that is what they are, under the current international drug law. Their crime? They all sipped coca tea on their arrival to the Bolivian capital La Paz....

Crops for illicit use and ecocide

December 2008

Germán Andrés Quimbayo Ruiz

A comparative reflection on the impact of illicit crops, drug control policy and other sectors of the economy on ecosystems and the environment in Colombia

Drug Policy Briefing 28

Eradications and conflict in Colombia

May 2008

Amira Armenta

While the coca farmer is treated as a criminal the road to peace in the Colombian countryside will remain closed.

Although more and more coca is being eradicated, production levels remain steady. According to the latest Annual Report of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB...

Los indígenas del Cauca defienden la soberanía de sus territorios y la revalorización de la hoja de coca

March 2008

TNI

Dora Lucila Troyano Sanchez

En Colombia, las organizaciones indígenas han sido perseguidas por el Estado de una manera brutal. El atropello más reciente se produjo durante el Consejo Comunitario del presidente Uribe. Durante el evento, no sólo se les negó la palabra de manera descortés, sino que el mismo presidente Uribe...

Abolishing Coca Leaf Consumption?

March 2008

TNI

The Transnational Institute condemns the decision by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) in their 2007 annual report released today, which calls on countries to ‘abolish or prohibit coca leaf chewing and the manufacture of coca tea’.

Crop spraying

December 2007

Drugs and Democracy

The United States is putting strong pressure on the Afghan government to officially adopt the strategy of eradicating the opium poppy through aerial spraying of the crops with the herbicide glyphosate.

Drug Policy Briefing 25