Colombia will ask the UN to remove the coca leaf from the list of illicit substances
Coca leaves in a field in the municipality of Tibu, Colombia, October 30, 2022. AFP - SCHNEYDER MENDOZA
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
The Colombian government has announced that it will join the request of Bolivia, which intends to ask the UN to remove the coca leaf from its list of illicit substances.
Objective: to change the perception of the coca leaf, from a psychoactive substance to a plant of traditional use.
In Bolivia, the ex-president Evo Morales had legalized its use at the national level.
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The announcement was made on Wednesday February 22 by Laura Gil, Colombian Deputy Minister for Multilateral Affairs.
Deputy Minister Laura Gil said her country wants to follow the example of Bolivia, which is trying to change the perception of the coca leaf as a "
psychoactive substance
" into an "
element of traditional use
".
“
Bolivia launched an initiative about ten years ago to legalize the traditional use of coca.
What they did was to denounce the Convention on Narcotic Drugs
,” the deputy minister told the Colombian press.
►
To read also Bolivia: coca galore
“Diverting the illegal market and weakening criminal economies”
"
In Bolivia, for many years, there has been a policy of social control of coca crops
," says Luis Felipe Cruz, lawyer and drug policy investigator at the Dejusticia Studies Center in Bogota, Colombia. Colombia, in an interview with
Mélissa Barra
of the Spanish editorial staff of RFI who defends this approach.
In Bolivia, for many years, there has been a policy of social control of coca crops.
And this policy, we have not been able to imitate it here, but it is really a very good idea to give communities the possibility of controlling the number of hectares cultivated in Colombia.
What the Drug Conventions allow is the use of plants or substances for certain authorized uses, for example in medicine.
So, what we are asking for lately with these proposals is to remove the coca leaf from the list of narcotics, so that from there, we can start setting up an international market, place a particular response for the coca leaf, and above all to develop a market that could benefit local communities.
And through this,
Luis Felipe Cruz, Lawyer and Drug Policy Investigator at the Dejusticia Center for Studies: “Showcasing a market that could benefit local communities”
Melissa Barra
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