Should coca leaf get rid of its international drug classification, so that it can then be legalized? Yes, that is what Bolivia and Colombia, two of the world’s largest producers of coca leaves, the raw material for cocaine, want. By October at the latest, the countries must present scientific evidence to the World Health Organization regarding the health effects of coca leaves.
For decades, the outside world has tried to persuade Bolivia’s coca farmers to abandon their drug-classified crop – without success. 70,000 people in the mountainous country make a living from growing coca leaves, which are allowed to be used for personal use in both Bolivia and Peru. It is used, as tea or chewed, and is said to suppress hunger and counteract altitude sickness, among other things.
– The coca leaf is everything to people here in the Yungas – health, food, clothing and education – and that’s why we defend it with our lives, says Lizette Torrez, president of the coca growers’ union in the tropical area on the slopes of the Andes mountain range.
Live with the coke
The coca farmers have a strong position in Bolivia, the former president came from their guild. But the power also comes from the fact that the leaves are used in both religious and medical contexts.
– We are very pleased that the UN has, for the first time in history, begun to seriously investigate the properties of coca leaves, says Juan Carlos Alurralde, spokesperson at the vice president’s office.
Buyers and sellers meet at the Mercado Negro in La Paz.
– We live with coca all the time, we always drink coca tea and the pain goes away, says Donata Sanchez, one of the vendors, her cheeks full of chewed coca leaves.
“Illegal trade is favored”
But economically struggling Bolivia also has commercial reasons for wanting to lift the drug classification of coca, which is used in everything from alcoholic drinks to soap and toothpaste. At the El Viejo Roble distillery, the coca leaves are in liquid, as in any illegal cocaine factory. The company has state permission to process the leaves into beer and spirits.
But as soon as legal production increases, so does illegal production. That’s what the US drug enforcement authorities say, which has been behind numerous campaigns to eradicate coca cultivation in Latin America. The US is against legalization.
According to the UN, coca leaves are grown on nearly 30,000 hectares in Bolivia, around a quarter illegally.
In the Yungas area, growers are hoping for export opportunities.
– A decriminalization of coca leaves could be good for my people – because our coca could be more in demand by the industry, says Lizette Torrez, president of the coca growers’ union.