‘Coca leaf is life itself’: Andean growers’ hopes fade as WHO upholds global ban | Global development

For thousands of years, Andean peoples living around what is now the town of Coripata, east of La Paz, Bolivia, used coca leaves to relieve fatigue, hunger, and altitude sickness (known as altitude sickness). Soroche), as well as to treat headaches and digestive problems.

Concerned about the future of this cultural and religious practice, Daynor Choque, heir to this ancient tradition, points to a pile of leaves on the table in front of him.

“We have been using coca without any problem since the time of our ancestors,” says Choque, head of the commercial arm of local coca producers. “Today, producers are being pushed into the illegal cocaine market just to survive – unless we can sell our coke legally on international markets. »

The producers’ wishes were dealt a blow last December when, 65 years after the United Nations Convention on Narcotic Drugs first declared that coca leaf should be as regulated as its derivative, refined cocaine, the World Health Organization (WHO) refused to change the leaf’s status.

Although a recent critical WHO study found that coca leaf (Erythroxylum coca) does not harm human health, the leaf – which contains 1% or less of the cocaine alkaloid – remains on the same list of dangerous drugs as heroin, fentanyl and cocaine.

The list, established under the 1961 United Nations convention, regulates 138 substances and is recognized by 186 countries. In 2023, Bolivia, supported by Colombia, asked the WHO to conduct its first published critical review of the coca leaf in the hope that it would reclassify coca or remove it from the United Nations list.

The coca leaf is an essential element of indigenous Andean-Amazonian culture, closely linked to daily social interactions and present in every ritual, from birth to death. The Andean peoples of Bolivia traditionally use coca leaves as a central part of their culture.

“For us, coca is life itself,” says Celestina Ticona, a coca producer.

The leaf is consumed daily by approximately 5 million people as a mild stimulant and herbal remedy, comparable to tea or coffee. The WHO critical review recognizes its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and anticancer properties.

“For six decades we have suffered this violation of indigenous sovereignty,” says former Bolivian Vice President David Choquehuanca, whose office coordinated the international reclassification effort.

“The recent historic mistake by the WHO violated our legitimate rights to use our sacred coca leaf as we see fit for therapeutic, nutritional and ritual practices, and to share it with the world,” he said, adding: “A country that does not respect its culture is doomed to disappear.”

TThe recent WHO decision significantly contradicts international law, according to John Walsh, director of drug policy and the Andes at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), a human rights organization.

“Given the evolution of indigenous peoples’ rights within the UN, including WHO, over the past decades, there is a huge gap between how WHO develops its other work and this decision,” he says.

The WHO cited growing public health concerns to justify its decision, noting in the analysis: “While recognizing the long-standing cultural and traditional value of coca use, particularly in the Andean region, the committee emphasized that scientific evidence on dependence, long-term safety, and potential therapeutic applications that would justify broader international trade in coca leaf for medical and scientific purposes remains limited.” »

Dilkushi Poovendran, WHO technical lead, said: “The increase in cocaine seizures and cocaine stimulant use disorders as well as the discovery of cocaine in parts of the world that had never seen it before were all taken into account. »

The increase in coca cultivation since the Covid pandemic has precipitated increased production and consumption of cocaine worldwide, making it the fastest growing illegal drug in the world.

Cocaine has become so prevalent in international markets in recent years that its wholesale price has halved in recent years. According to Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, policies based on the logic of the “war on drugs”, while failing to reduce consumption or deter crime, have proven insufficient to slow this flow, putting pressure on the UN to maintain existing controls.

The reclassification of the coca leaf could have allowed the adoption of national anti-drug policies that overturn bans on products made from the leaf, such as teas, balms and toothpaste. “We want to be able to sell products made from our sacred coca leaf around the world,” says Choquehuanca.

Poovendran insists coca-producing regions can do this. “Countries can count on current international control measures to pursue their interest in the marketing of preparations such as coca leaf teas,” she says.

In practice, however, most national drug policies take their cues from the UN, resulting in states banning the coca leaf under the same stipulations that restrict cocaine.

According to WOLA’s Walsh, compliance with these regulations creates a paradox in which scientific research into the effects of coca and its potential therapeutic uses, which could warrant reclassification, is restricted.

However, experts say that until a legal international market for coca leaf products is well developed, benefiting producers, farmers already engaged in the illegal market will not benefit from a lifting of global restrictions.

Tom Grisaffi, an anthropologist at the University of Reading who has researched coca farmers, says: “The illegality of coca provides a comparative advantage to small farmers.

Since the Andean countries are inserted in very unfavorable conditions in world markets, crops such as tea, coffee, oranges or pineapples simply do not bring money; illegal coke does.

A key question in the WHO’s critical review was how easily it is possible to process the leaf into refined cocaine. Poovendran says: “What the critical review found is that converting coca leaf into coca paste is quite simple to do. It doesn’t require large volumes of coca leaf, and it doesn’t require a lot of chemicals.”

This assessment is contested by those who campaign for the reclassification of the coca leaf. Walsh says: “Processing products designed for legal markets, such as tea or coca flour, into coca paste is simply not economically viable, given the volume of leaves required. »

The WHO calculates that it takes one tonne of dried leaves to produce approximately 900g of 85% pure cocaine. Producing purified cocaine from the leaf requires a three-step process that many analysts describe as time-consuming and labor-intensive.

The WHO recommendation follows the decision of its main donor, the United States, to withdraw from the international health body from January 2026. The United States has always been the world’s strongest advocate against changing the status of coca.

“The US defunding has clearly reinforced the WHO’s tendency to keep the leaf in the same category of narcotics”, Walsh said.

This recent study is not the first time that the WHO has conducted research on coca leaf. Scheduled for 1995, a two-year WHO study, believed to be the largest ever conducted on cocaine use, reached conclusions similar to the last analysis.

But the study never saw the light of day after the U.S. representative warned WHO’s top decision-making body that “if drug-related activities fail to strengthen proven approaches to drug control, funds for relevant programs should be cut.”

The next challenge for drug reform advocates is to identify a country willing to appeal to the U.N. Economic and Social Council, whose broader mandate could allow it to overturn the WHO decision. Given the new conservative government in Bolivia and the mandate of the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, which ended in August, the momentum towards the rehabilitation of the coca leaf may have run out of steam.

“We see this result as another attack on our culture,” Choquehuanca said of the decision. “The WHO refused to treat coca as we always have: a sacred part of our culture that has nothing to do with cocaine.”