A big international disagreement has started over the right of Bolivia’s indigenous Indian tribes to chew coca leaves, the main ingredient in cocaine. This could have a significant effect on global drugs policy. Bolivia has received a special exemption from the 1961 Convention on Drugs, the agreement that controls international drugs policy. The exemption allows Bolivia’s indigenous people to chew the leaves. Bolivia said that the convention was against its new constitution, adopted in 2009, which says it must “protect native and ancestral coca” as part of its cultural heritage and says that coca “in its natural state ... is not a dangerous drug.”
What was the purpose of the 1961 Convention on Drugs?
Regulating international policy on drugs Discussing whether indigenous people in Bolivia should be allowed to chew coca leaves Discussing the legal status of Bolivia’s constitution Negotiating extradition agreements for drug traffickers