Illegal Crops Force Farmers to Take Tough Decisions

The European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies, Encod, lobbies to increase the legal demand for coca leaves by opening up European markets for the fair trade of ecological coca leaf products

Both Europe and South America have an interest in creating alternatives for the US style “war on drugs” that has been waged in both continents for over 40 years now. The establishment of a legal market for products made from coca leaves (the raw material of cocaine) could be one of these alternatives. Allowing Bolivian coca producers to sell healthy coca products to European customers could turn into a crucial step towards just and effective drug policies, aimed at reducing harm and increasing quality of life.

Since the end of the 1970s, a war has been waged against the coca leaf in an attempt to stop the trade in its most famous derivate, cocaine. For the past 30 years, several billions of dollars have been put in this war by European and Northamerican governments with the aim of eradicating or substituting the “green gold”. During all this time, cocaine supply has not been reduced, while most coca growers continue without a legal source of income that will guarantee their families a worthy existence. Large areas of the Andean regions have been militarised, human rights have been violated and government officials have been corrupted due to the war against coca. Furthermore, the illegal cocaine trade is causing terrible gang wars that are destroying societies, most recently in Mexico.

Large areas of the Andean regions have been militarised, human rights have been violated and government officials have been corrupted due to the war against coca.

For the indigenous population of the Andes, coca leaf is a food supplement, a medicine and a basic ingredient of their daily diet. For those working the land or in mines, in celebrations, in meetings between neighbours and friends, the coca leaf is always present, and has been (according to archeological evidence) for at least the past 7000 years.

Many Westerners who have visited the Andean highlands have learned to appreciate coca tea or other traditional coca products as an effective remedy against sorojche or altitude sickness, as well as a digestive and a very mild stimulant similar to coffee.

Since 1988, the cultivation of coca leaves for traditional consumption has been legal in Peru and Bolivia, thanks to the inclusion of a clause in the UN Drug Conventions that prohibit coca leaves, but make an exception for “traditional use, in regions where there exists evidence of this use”. For the past 15 years, representatives of Encod have maintained many conversations with representatives of European governments, hoping to convince them of the benefits that the legalization of the export of coca products to the European market could generate. Almost always we received the answer that as individuals they considered it absurd to prohibit the coca leaf, but as an authority they couldn't do anything because the issue has no priority for European governments.

Giving the coca leaf and its traditional derivatives a legal outlet on the international market would lead to a reduction in the supply of illegal coca leaves. Additionally, there are at least two other reasons why legalisation of the import of coca leaf products should be a European priority.

Primarily, coca leaves are a healthy remedy for many diseases which Europeans suffer from. It's been demonstrated, among others by a team of researchers of the World Health Organization in 1995, that the consumption of coca leaves in their natural state does not have any negative effect on the physical or mental health of the consumer. On the contrary, plentiful evidence exists to demonstrate the beneficial effects of the coca leaf or its use in natural products like tea, honey, soft drinks, tooth paste etc.

Not only is coca an effective remedy against common problems in the Andean highlands, such as stomach, head, muscle and teeth disorders, energy loss and skin diseases, among others, but in the past decades several western experts of alternative medicine have reported on the successful application of the coca leaf in the treatment of “modern” diseases such as obesity, diabetes, depression, blood circulation disorders, impotence, and as a substitute for cocaine in order to treat cocaine addiction problems.

The legalization of the export of traditional coca products could create a precedent in sustainable development in the Andean region where coca is a survival strategy for tens of thousands of Andean peasant families. In a crisis caused partly by ecological factors and partly by neoliberal policies that were implemented by Andean governments since 1980, many coca growers have migrated from other rural areas due to the lack of land or unemployment. In regions like Chapare, in the tropical lowlands north of Cochabamba in central Bolivia, where the state is virtually absent, peasants have built roads, schools and health centres. The funds for this have come from taxes imposed by peasant unions on the sale of coca.

Coca offers ideal conditions for developing a sustainable economy for peasant families: it's easy to cultivate (in comparison with other crops it requires less use of chemicals), it can be harvested several times per year and can be combined with other food crops such as rice, yucca and tropical fruits. As has been shown in Bolivia in the past years under the government of president Evo Morales, himself leader of the main coca growers union of the Chapare, the production of coca can be reduced through peaceful means, using a system of licenses that is controlled by the peasant unions themselves. They have a particular interest in controlling the areas where the leaf is grown, as an unlimited supply would have a direct effect on prices.

Encod identifies three possible strategies to create concrete initiatives to commercialise the export of coca leaf products to Europe.

The import of coca leaf products that are not fit for human consumption.

Feasibility studies need to be made into the export of coca leaf products that are not fit for human consumption, such as paper and shampoo. It is very unlikely that European authorities would have problems in allowing these products to cross borders so o legal changes would be necessary.

The import of coca leaf products that are decocainised.

According to article 27 of the UN Single Convention of 1961, coca leaf products may be used to produce a flavouring agent that does not contain cocaine. Among others, Coca Cola makes use of this article to produce a coca leaf based extract that is applied in the production of legal products. It is indispensable that Bolivian producers obtain precise knowledge regarding the decocainisation process. This knowledge is one of the keys to open the international markets for Bolivian coca products.

The import of non-decocainised coca leaf products.

If the use of coca is authorised for cultural reasons in one country, there is no reason to prohibit it in another. This is one argument that can be used to challenge the international legislation that prohibits the possession of coca leaves and their derivatives outside of Bolivia and Peru. In an increasingly globalised world, cultures and traditions are not limited by borders. Therefore, in the coming months, Encod will prepare the establishment of a European association of coca leaf consumers, consisting of people who wish to import legal coca products through a green and fair trade economic circuit, in agreement with Bolivian coca grower associations.

We welcome any interested parties to colloborate with us and support this initiative.

Which has been more detrimental to society, drug use or the “war on drugs” waged to check it? As regards production, trade and use of narcotics, are we not today in a much worse position than some three decades ago when this famous war aimed at eradicating drugs from the face of the earth was first conceived?

This is what many observers around the world have been asking themselves for some time now but which very few governments want to hear. Yet the ominous violence recently unleashed in the battle against drugs in a country like Mexico has led its president, Felipe Calderón, to ponder whether it isn’t high time to begin to examine what has failed. He’s not misguided – he knows that between 2006 and 2010 alone, 28,000 war on drugs related deaths have been recorded in Mexico alone.

A serious debate about the results of the war on drugs is more than a decade overdue. At the beginning of the new century, the world already had quite some experience about the total lack of results and the perverse effects of drug policies based on repression and prohibition of the production, trade and use of narcotics. A long time has elapsed before we could start talking about changes, and contemplating alternatives to the “zero tolerance” approach prevalent in the world.

This attitude has afforded the illegal narcotics industry and the drug mafias a lot of time, which in turn has allowed them to go very far, penetrating deep into – and corrupting too many basic areas of society. If a serious approach to change had been considered years ago, today President Calderón would most likely not be confronting the untenable situation in which organized crime has gripped his nation – and Mexico and other countries in the region would not be suffering the many other collateral effects they are now facing as a consequence of fruitless and counterproductive policies.

Hopefully, other leaders – particularly those in influential countries like the United States or those in the European Union – will also see the need and the importance of opening a candid discussion on the alternatives to current drug policies. An international debate is key because drug-related problems do not have national solutions restricted to the geographical boundaries of a single country. The true solutions are to be found at the level of the international community.

Now that some Latin American countries are promoting changes in their drug- related legislation, and that in the United States there is a growing number of sectors determined to rethink the notion of downright, hardcore prohibition – the state of California will vote for or against marijuana regulation in November. If regulatory policies and tolerance are presented as alternatives to 28,000 drug-related violent deaths in one country alone in a few years, then contemplating such alternatives is clearly worth the effort.

We must not forget that, before the prohibitionist paranoia began, mankind already had had a healthy relationship with drugs for centuries.