MAZE of LAWS and OPINIONS about COCA

Whoever meets the sacred green Coca in the Andean-Amazonian region can take away just its memory, because it remains firmly enclosed in its ancestral nest … or maybe Coca is really … a prisoner?

Going over the past years several confirmations arise in favor of a positive response.

In 1912 at The Hague (Netherlands), cocaine, together with green Coca as its raw materials, was included in the Opium Convention, signed in 1913 by the Government of Peru, so giving a start to a negative campaign against Coca plant, promoted by Peruvian psychiatrists (Valdizán, 1913).

In 1950 the conclusions of the report drawn up by the Commission of the United Nations, established at request of the Peruvian Government for further studies on Andean Coca, provoked the protests of Peru and Bolivia fdue to the argumentations and contents clearly prejudicial.

In 1953 a Commission of the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that the ancient traditional use of Coca should be considered drug addiction.

In 1961 the Coca leaves – and not only cocaine hydrochloride as it would have been corrected – were included in the List I of Drugs in the Unique Convention on Narcotic Drugs of the United Nations, namely the most restrictive and subject to greater control  list, despite the evidences that the green Coca doesn’t have anything to share with drugs.

In the same Unique Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961) an agreement was issued on the destruction of Coca crops in Peru and Bolivia and it was signed by both Governments.

The Repressive Legislation and the Illuminating Science keep alternating pro or against Coca …

In 1976 the Harvard University (USA) published a study about the composition and characteristics of green Coca, concluding that it is nutritionally comparable to the best known cereals and foods.

In March 1978 the Law Decree 22095 in Peru puts all together Coca leaves and drugs, considering punishable with the same severe penalties  the peasants, the drugs addicted and the drugs traffickers, without any distinction.

In 1978 the Instituto Indigenista Interamericano of Mexico assumed the defense of green Coca in a complete dedicated monograph, published in the magazine América Indígena, whose detalis are reported in another chapter.

In 1988 the Law 1008 came into force in Bolivia about Andean Coca and drugs all at one, stating that all are assumed to be users of drugs – including green Coca – until it is not explicitly otherwise proved, roughly ignoring the universal precept of presumed innocence until otherwise proven.

On 3 March 1995 the conclusions of the COCAINE Project, elaborated by WHO-UNICRI, brought some light, including the following statement: The use of Coca leaves does not seem to result in adverse health effects and exercise therapeutic, ritual and socials aspects, positive for the indigenous peoples of the Andes …

Certainly the scale of Coca will continue to oscillate, unpredictable and fickle…