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.
Coca
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The Top Ten International Drug Policy Stories of 2011 [FEATURE]
We go around the world to find the most important international drug policy stories of 2011.
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.
Evo Morales (wikimedia.org)
Bolivia Restores Ties with US, But Rejects DEA
Bolivia has restored diplomatic relations with the US after throwing out the DEA and the US ambassador three years ago, but the DEA is not welcome back.
CONPACCP members in the coca fields (photo by the author)
Eradication Sparks Conflict in Peru's Coca Fields [FEATURE]
The new Humala government in Peru sought coca grower support by promising to end forced eradication, and now the growers are holding the government to its word.
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)
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
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
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.
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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.