{"id":6837,"date":"2008-04-09T23:16:36","date_gmt":"2008-04-09T23:16:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drogriporter.hu\/coca-leaf-the-heritage-of-the-andes\/"},"modified":"2022-07-04T14:44:30","modified_gmt":"2022-07-04T12:44:30","slug":"coca-leaf-the-heritage-of-the-andes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drogriporter.hu\/en\/coca-leaf-the-heritage-of-the-andes\/","title":{"rendered":"Coca Leaf: The Heritage of the Andes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A short film on the struggle of the Bolivian people for legal coca<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>In its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.incb.org\/pdf\/annual-report\/2007\/en\/annual-report-2007.pdf\">annual report<\/a>, released in March, the International Narcotics Control Board (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.incb.org\/incb\/index.html\">INCB<\/a>) called the governments of Peru and Bolivia &#8220;to initiate action without delay with a view to eliminating uses of coca leaf that are contrary to the 1961 Convention&#8221;, emphasizing the role coca leaf &#8220;plays in the progression of drug dependence&#8221; and claiming that growers are supplying the international narcotic trade.&nbsp; The governments of Peru and Bolivia rejected these controversial statements, saying that coca leaf is a sacred symbol for indigenous people, which should be protected as a cultural heritage of the Andes. According to a suppressed WHO report the traditional use of coca leaf has no significant health risks but it has many nutritional and medicinal benefits. The government of Bolivia calls for the revision of the status of coca, which is listed among narcotic substances like cocaine and heroin. We interviewed a representative of the Bolivian government at the 51st Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in Vienna on their position on coca leaf and its possible future regulation. Mr. Felipe L. C\u00e1ceres, the Vice Minister of Social Defence of Bolivia explained that in the view of the current government coca chewing is a cultural tradition rather than drug use, therefore it supports the legalization of coca but implements a policy of zero-cocaine. Well, even if we consider coca a drug, and don&#8217;t think we should legalize coca leaf at the cost of demonizing cocaine users, we support the struggle of Bolivian people to stop the war on coca and reclaim respect for the heritage of their ancestors.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"rtecenter\"><b>WATCH OUR VIDEO ON YOUTUBE AND TELL INCB WHAT YOU THINK:<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><center><object width=\"640\" height=\"360\"><param name=\"quality\" value=\"high\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/mr0gcDIUugs&amp;hl=en\"><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"><embed height=\"360\" quality=\"high\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/mr0gcDIUugs&amp;hl=en\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"640\" wmode=\"transparent\"><\/object><\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"rtecenter\"><b><u>Further readings on coca leaf and coca policies from the <\/u><\/b><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tni.org\/index.phtml?&amp;lang=en\"><b>Transnational Institute<\/b><\/a><\/u><b><u>:<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n<div class=\"rtecenter\"><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tni.org\/reports\/drugs\/debate13.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/drogriporter\/cocayescocaineno.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"140\" height=\"197\"><\/a><br \/>\nCoca yes, cocaine, no! Legal Options <\/b><\/div>\n<div class=\"rtecenter\"><b>f<\/b><b>or the Coca Leaf<\/b><\/div>\n<div class=\"rtecenter\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"rtecenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tni.org\/reports\/drugs\/debate10.pdf?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/drogriporter\/cocaordeath.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"137\" height=\"200\"><\/a><br \/>\n<b>Coca or Death? Cocalero <\/b><\/div>\n<div class=\"rtecenter\"><b>Movements <\/b><b>in Bolivia and Peru<\/b><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: smaller;\">Posted by Peter Sarosi<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A short film on the struggle of the Bolivian people for legal coca<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1005,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2900,2894],"tags":[],"countries":[2692,2713,2731],"section":[],"video-author":[2921],"drug":[],"archive":[3214,3240],"video-series":[],"class_list":["post-6837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-video-database","countries-austria-en","countries-bolivia-en","countries-peru-en","video-author-drugreporter","archive-drug-policy-and-law","archive-regulation-and-control"],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"P\u00e9ter S\u00e1rosi","author_link":"https:\/\/drogriporter.hu\/en\/author\/sarosip-2\/"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin  - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Coca Leaf: The Heritage of the Andes - Drugreporter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/drogriporter.hu\/en\/coca-leaf-the-heritage-of-the-andes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Coca Leaf: The Heritage of the Andes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A short film on the struggle of the Bolivian people for legal coca\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/drogriporter.hu\/en\/coca-leaf-the-heritage-of-the-andes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Drugreporter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-04-09T23:16:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-04T12:44:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"P\u00e9ter S\u00e1rosi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"P\u00e9ter S\u00e1rosi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/drogriporter.hu\\\/en\\\/coca-leaf-the-heritage-of-the-andes\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/drogriporter.hu\\\/en\\\/coca-leaf-the-heritage-of-the-andes\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"P\u00e9ter S\u00e1rosi\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/drogriporter.hu\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fb6cc5151784cb72290e136439b8cfbf\"},\"headline\":\"Coca Leaf: The Heritage of the Andes\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-04-09T23:16:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-04T12:44:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/drogriporter.hu\\\/en\\\/coca-leaf-the-heritage-of-the-andes\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":337,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Articles\",\"Video Database\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/drogriporter.hu\\\/en\\\/coca-leaf-the-heritage-of-the-andes\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/drogriporter.hu\\\/en\\\/coca-leaf-the-heritage-of-the-andes\\\/\",\"name\":\"Coca Leaf: The Heritage of the Andes - 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He is a human rights activist and drug policy expert, the founder and editor of the Drugreporter website since 2004, the author of countless articles, co-author of books and director of films about harm reduction and drug policy reform. He was the Director of the Drug Policy Program at the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union between 2004 and 2015. He is experienced in working at international drug policy forums such as the Commission on Narcotic Drugs. He was twice elected to the Core Group of the EU Civil Society Forum on Drugs. He is the co-chair of the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network. He has been representing the Hungarian Harm Reduction Network at the government\u2019s drug advisory body in Hungary since 2007. Peter also contributed to building a network of advocacy NGOs in Europe: the European Drug Policy Initiative. He provided technical assistance to several NGOs, and launched several campaigns on drug policy reform. 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He is a human rights activist and drug policy expert, the founder and editor of the Drugreporter website since 2004, the author of countless articles, co-author of books and director of films about harm reduction and drug policy reform. He was the Director of the Drug Policy Program at the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union between 2004 and 2015. He is experienced in working at international drug policy forums such as the Commission on Narcotic Drugs. He was twice elected to the Core Group of the EU Civil Society Forum on Drugs. He is the co-chair of the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network. He has been representing the Hungarian Harm Reduction Network at the government\u2019s drug advisory body in Hungary since 2007. Peter also contributed to building a network of advocacy NGOs in Europe: the European Drug Policy Initiative. He provided technical assistance to several NGOs, and launched several campaigns on drug policy reform. 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