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Coca

statues of coca leaves adorn a small town plaza in Peru (photo by author)
statues of coca leaves adorn a small town plaza in Peru (photo by author)

Peru Fires Reformist Drug Czar

Peru's drug czar has been fired for being insufficiently enthusiastic about eradicating coca crops.
fusarium oxysprorum (wikimedia.org)
fusarium oxysprorum (wikimedia.org)

Drug Crop-Killing Fungi Too Risky, Scientists Say

No "Frankenfungi" for the drug warriors just yet -- we don't know enough about the dangers of using mycoherbicides to eradicate drug crops to be doing that, a panel of scientists from the National Research Council says.
Town plaza with statues honoring the coca leaf in the VRAE (photo by the author)
Town plaza with statues honoring the coca leaf in the VRAE (photo by the author)

Peru Halts Coca Eradication -- For Now

The new nationalist government of Peruvian President Ollanta Humala has announced the temporary suspension of coca eradication as it evaluates its options.
Cultivating coca in the Chapare. (photo by the author)
Cultivating coca in the Chapare. (photo by the author)

Bolivia to Buy Up Excess Coca Production

The Bolivian government is laying plans to buy some legally produced coca -- up to a certain point -- if there is not sufficient licit use for it.
lime powder container (used traditionally in coca chewing), 1st-7th-century, Colombia (Quimbaya), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
lime powder container (used traditionally in coca chewing), 1st-7th-century, Colombia (Quimbaya), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

Going Through the Motions

[image:1 align:left caption:true]Bolivia's government has announced it plans to allow "excess

lime powder container (used traditionally in coca chewing), 1st-7th-century, Colombia (Quimbaya), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
lime powder container (used traditionally in coca chewing), 1st-7th-century, Colombia (Quimbaya), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

Bolivia to Quit United Nations Drug Convention Over Coca

We may be about to see the first defection from the legal backbone of global drug prohibition, the 1961 UN Convention on Single Drugs. Bolivia is ready to dump it, at least temporarily, over its classification of coca as an illicit drug.
coca-chew-in-3_0.jpg
coca-chew-in-3_0.jpg

Bolivians Hold Coca "Chew-Ins" Opposing UN Ban

As the US, UK, and Sweden file formal objections to Bolivian efforts to amend the UN 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs to end the proscription on coca leaf chewing, Bolivians take to the streets.