Coca

Bolivia's bid to rejoin the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs without accepting the treaty's proscription against coca leaf chewing appears to be set to happen, despite the objections of a handful of Western countries.

Coca production is up in Peru for the sixth year in a row, responding to thriving demand from Brazil and Europe. Colombia is barely holding on to first place now.

Is the world's longest-running insurgency coming to an end? The Colombian government and the leftist guerrillas of the FARC have announced their first peace talks in a decade, but that's just the first step.

We review "Drugs, Insecurity, and Failed States: The Problems of Prohibition," a new book from the very establishment International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Coca production in Colombia ticked upward last year after four straight years of declines, the UNODC said in a new report. It's still way down from its peak, though.

A bill that would decriminalize drug crop cultivation in Colombia has passed a first reading in the lower house, but the government opposes it.

Some Colombian congressmen want to decriminalize coca and marijuana production in a bid to drive down prices and encourage farmers to plant other crops.

Bolivian President Evo Morales told the UN Commission on Narcotics Drugs Monday that Bolivians have the right to chew coca leaves. Bolivia wants the leaf removed from the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, and has rejoined the treaty only with a reservation that it recognizes traditional coca use.

The International Narcotics Control Board is "concerned" that Bolivia is rejecting part of an international anti-drug treaty, but two prominent NGOs said the INCB is off base in its criticisms.