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Foreign Affairs Minister: Peru will respect traditional use of coca leaf

(LIP-ir) -- Peru will continue respecting the traditional use of the coca leaf, said Peru's Minister of Foreign Affairs after the United Nation's International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) issued a recommendation Wednesday to Peruvian and Bolivian governments to make all uses of the coca leaf a criminal offense.

If the recommendation were to be considered by the Andean nations' governments, chewing coca leaves, drinking coca tea, or even turning coca leaves into baking flour or toothpaste would be considered illegal.

According to the U.N. report, the board called the Governments of Bolivia and Peru "to consider amending their national legislation so as to abolish or prohibit activities such as coca leaf chewing and the manufacture of mate de coca (coca tea) and other products containing coca alkaloids for domestic use and export".

The 1961 United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs lists both natural coca and cocaine alongside heroin and opium as narcotics.

On the other hand, Peru's Minister of Foreign Affairs has clarified that the United Nation's INCB made similar suggestions in 1988, at which time Peru filed a caveat, stating it would respect the traditional use of the coca leaf in the Andean nation.

It was reported that if the recommendation were to be considered, at least 14,000 farmers, who produce coca leaves legally, would be affected.

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# Anonymous Joe says :
6 March, 2008 [ 13:19 ]

Any organisation that lists coca leaves as a dangerous drug should not have any attention paid to it.

As far as I am concerned, the United States should stop mass production of tabacco for domestic use and export, and make tobacco smoking and chewing illegal.

# Oliver Roman Ardiles says :
6 March, 2008 [ 16:47 ]

Well said.

# mark priester says :
6 March, 2008 [ 21:38 ]

i was going to reply something very similar!they want to take away chewing the coca leaf from these people then before they tuck themselves in bed at night they have a few scotch on the rocks for completely different reasons , what hipocrits!

# Giovanni Delfino says :
7 March, 2008 [ 00:35 ]

I think the same way. The Andean Nations should tell them that if the Andean Countries have to make Coca illegal, then the United States should make Tobacco illegal first!!!!!!

# coffee vs coca says :
7 March, 2008 [ 07:16 ]

Produce from the 14,000 coca leaf growers, ive read that only 12% of their product goes to coca tea and for chewing.  The other 88% must go to make the a big $ white biz.
If a country can put a man on the moon, it would seem that if they really wanted to they could stop drugs from entering their country, If they really wanted to.  If not, they must be making alot of cash on the trade and dont really want to stop it, they just pretent to want to stop it.
for the 88% of coca leaf or 12,320 growers that cultavate coca that does not go to to make coca tea or for chewing (the coca that goes for drugs) were given a alternative crop to grow that would pay them the same or more $ to grow they would grow coffee, pineapples, or anyother produce if it paid more than coca.

# Splaktar says :
7 March, 2008 [ 08:47 ]

It would really suck if there was no more mate de coca or any other coca products.  They certainly aren't dangerous, only people who exploit them with chemistry are.  Cocaine is already illegal in Peru, that should be enough.

# Rene says :
7 March, 2008 [ 09:11 ]

I'm absolutely against making coca leaves illegal and for the traditional use of it. But I find it an oversimplification to state that the destination countries could easily stop it if they wanted to. Of course, you can spend trillions a year to close all the borders airtight, but I think it is more economic to take care of it by the source. And if Peru, Bolivia and Colombia really wanted, they could stop the production of cocaine, right?

Anyway, offering more $ for other crops is not going to work either, as the narcotraffickers will just start paying more for the coca. They make millions in profit and can afford that easily. That would become a price war at the cost of the consumer. I think the local government needs to be more in control of what is cultivated by the farmers and where the product is going.

Comparing coca leaves with tobacco is a nice one, but the comparison fails a bit. I have not heard of anybody processing tobacco into flour or toothpaste. But then again, coca leaves are not addictive.

I think the drugswar will never go away, but if the UN really wants to do something about it, they should sit together with the Andean countries and discuss what is needed to control the production of the drugs and not attack the centuries old tradition of the local people...

# coffee vs coca says :
7 March, 2008 [ 09:23 ]

supply and damand,
If there is a damand the supply will allways be found. Your argument that the sourse should be taken care of will never work, the damand must be taken care of, if no one wanted cocaine then there would be no problem here in the andes. Clean your own house first, take care of your own drug problem first, with no damand, the supply will go away.

# Anonymous Dave says :
7 March, 2008 [ 09:46 ]

What's also funny, is that some of the writers of this report, and almost certainly those who signed it, probably do cocaine on a saturday night.

# Rene says :
7 March, 2008 [ 11:50 ]

I believe in supply and demand, the only problem in the drugs world is that the drug dealers are very good in creating the demand and keeping it at high levels. The drug problem with cocaine increased dramatically in the 80's when it was sold as crack cocaine, introduced by the drug dealers. And the demand will never go away. You can make it illegal with high penalties, but that does not keep people from using it (that has been tried already, remember Al Capone?). Another problem would occur if the demand goes down, namely the price will go down which will attract new demand. I agree that demand needs attention just like the supply. But looking only at the demand is like hosing water out of a boat with a leak in the bottom. 

About cleaning your own house first, the andean countries have their own problems with cocaine use as well. I do not see them doing anything about that either...

And your conclusion that there would not be any problem left in the Andes if the cocaine problem would be gone is denying all the other problems andean farmers are facing. They turn to coca just because all other products are not profitable anymore due to global competition. If the need for coca is taken away, there will certainly be problems there.

Just supplying whatever is demanded in this world when it is illegal, is criminal in itself. I can not just become an asassin just because there is a demand for killers. I can not simply steel cars simply because there is a demand for stolen cars. And neither can a people just support cocaine production simply because there is a demand for it. Also the andean people have a responsibility in this world.

I think it is way to easy to try to get off by pointing the finger to the other side. That is denying responsibilities and in that way the problem will always persist. If both sides would try to work together to solve the problem, that would certainly reduce the problem...

# working together says :
7 March, 2008 [ 13:47 ]

They do work to together now more than ever, making the supply meet the demand. For some reason this does not make to the propaganda mills of CNN, where readers think they are fighting the war on drugs not the truth that they are running the show.
If it were different as one might think, you would see rehab centers help programs and education, not yearly increeses of consumption.  Drug dealers are very good at creating the demand, put them to work at something positive that pays well.  Coca growers are good at growing, give them an altiative crop that they can put their skills to and make honest living and they would do it. 
In the andes coca leaf has been used for many thousands of years without social problems.  It has as you state been only since the 1970's that the problem has been snowballing out of control.
You can check the substantial increase in production to the equal substaintal drop in coffee prices in the 1990s.  Cafe was 380 soles an arroba (busshell) in 1997 then it droped to 80 soles so all the farmers where inclined to grow coca and not cafe.  Bring back the price of cafe if you dont want growers to cultivate more coca.  Since this has not been done, you see the results today of giant scale production.
If you cant control the drug dealers then the drug dealers run your country. If Peru cant control their narcos then narcos must run the country.  So the Narcos and the dealers work together pulling the wool over the eyes of the general public and make billions of non taxable $ a year in cash.

# Anonymous Joe says :
7 March, 2008 [ 16:50 ]

@working together

It's nice to see someone behind most of the parody and nonsense posts at LIP write something well thought out.

# anonymous dude says :
7 March, 2008 [ 18:36 ]

thanks Joe,
living in peru for many years opens your eyes to many things you thought were true but really were not and thanks LIP for the exelent fourm.

# Just Jade says :
22 April, 2008 [ 16:40 ]

Well, I´m from what has been called the "Meth Capitol" of the world. Kalispell Montana. Now, why is Meth so rampant in the U.S.? Because it´s cheaper than coke. By far. It is also a lot more destructive. It´s relatively easy to make, hard to control the ingredients, and there´s absolutely no way to tax it. Also, it is completly un-natural and dirty to ones spirit.

If people want to get stimulated, they will. Wheter it be by coke, crack, meth, crank, or by sniffing Raid, they will get high. Now, this may be backwards thinking but instead of the U.S.´s Nixon waged war on drugs which by the way has taken more lives than any in U.S. hitory, gone on longer, and cost more...they should legalize coke, control it´s quality/potency (thus restricting the danger) and tax it. In the roaring twenties, coke was the cure all, if you had a cold, tooth ache, headache, backache, etc.. your doc. would prescribe coke. It was in chewing gum and of course Coca-Cola. Because it wasn´t taboo and it was affordable, it´s medicinal propperties were utilized and not abused.

However, if you justify wars on South America and Afghanistan by saying it´s to control drugs then you can police the globe. The drugs have never stopped coming into the States, the money from them has just changed hands. It is okay to be smacked out of your f#ck#ng mind on Oxycottons or any other Mothers Little Helpers but it´s not okay to relax and smoke a joint! Come on! The pharmacutical companies want everybody on drugs, just as long as they´re legal A.I.-bought from them. The FDA pushes poisons to make a buck and meanwhile we kill and raid poor farmers in poor countries trying to do the same. South America needs to form their own alliance similar to the U.N., trade amongst themselves, and tell Big Brother to get out before it´s too late.
The U.S. has no valid exports other than the shit they make in Hollywood and Nashville, and technologies for warmongering. To cut them out would only mean more food and petroleum for South America and less televised propaganda that corrupts it´s youth into being a gimme-gimme culture of lusting, mindless zombies. I could go on and on but have taken up enough of your time here. I would appreciate any feedback and am open to any constructive criticism. PEACE!