Descheduling Coca: Challenges and Outcome Scenarios of the WHO Review

At the initiative of Bolivia and supported by Colombia, the WHO has started a first ever ‘critical review’ of the classification of the coca leaf, nearly 75 years after the UN placed the coca leaf in Schedule I of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and called for the abolition of its traditional uses. Changing coca’s status in the drug treaties can vindicate the rights of Indigenous peoples and open legal international markets for natural coca products, fortifying Andean economies while bringing coca’s benefits to people around the world. The WHO will submit its recommendations to the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs for approval, with voting likely in early 2026. What are the key challenges and potential outcomes of this review process, and what are the chances that it could finally end the global ban on coca leaf?