The Struggle for Coca Decriminalization in Bolivia - 1987-2005: Coca Leaves, Cocaine, and Neoliberalism

In 1989 a judge on the German Supreme Court declared that the right to "intoxication," understood as the alteration of consciousness, is among the most essential human rights that make up the concept of a human being’s free will, and that as such, the state does not have the power to prohibit the consumption of substances that alter consciousness or the human organism. This legal decision came out as a response to a concern among German civil society when the possibility of decriminalizing drug consumption was discussed in Europe as a structural solution to increasing drug use in modern societies. Put directly, the human being has the right to alter its consciousness and organic operation via any medium, natural or chemical, as long as this does not affect the right of others not to do so. It is within this legal context that the consumption of medicinal plants such as coca is, by extension of modern "positive law," a human right, as it is also a usage and custom that must be universally respected and guaranteed by contemporary states' legislation.

In the year 2008, when the preparatory meeting for the next United Nations Single Convention on Narcotics is held in Vienna, Bolivia’s "Law 1008" (the “Regulation of Coca and Controlled Substances Law”) will also turn 20.

In the year 1987, I participated actively, as advisor to the Bolivian Workers' Federation (the Central Obrera Boliviana, or COB, in Spanish), in the rejection of this law that criminalized the coca plant, and, by extension, those who cultivated and consumed the leaves of this plant. In fact, the struggle to defend the coca leaf became a strategic issue for the Bolivian labor movement, appearing in the list of demands drawn up each year to present to the national government. One must understand that this form of negotiation between the government and the labor unions was a way of planning the budgetary policy for all sectors, but was also a demonstration of the union's strength and political legitimacy.

On the other hand, in dealing with coca cultivation, it was the first time that an organization that defined itself as proletarian had acted directly on a problem understood as being strictly within the sphere of the peasantry. As such, the Bolivian labor leadership had serious doubts about how to defend coca's "legality" despite its characterization as an "intoxicant" and "narcotic," considering that coca is the raw material for cocaine. By 1987, the cocaine trade had become an important source of national income, despite being defined as "illicit." In this context, the coca leaf's stigmatization came about because of its association with "drug trafficking." The Chapare region of the department of Cochabamba was a major free market of coca leaves for the fabrication of cocaine, although the Yungas region of the La Paz department also fed this activity.

It cannot be denied that Bolivian coca cultivation associated with cocaine production was a comparable source of revenue to tin or petroleum production in 1987, and perhaps of even greater economic impact. It has been calculated that at that time, the money generated by the production of coca and cocaine added up to US$3 billion annually, with some $600 million staying in circulation in the national economy, of which 10 percent ended up in the hands of the coca growers. This complex aspect of the issue was not clearly understood by the leadership of the workers' umbrella organization, the COB, due to the fact that coca was defined as a "drug," or, in the language of the United Nations, a "controlled substance." Nevertheless, for the purpose of rural development, coca could be seen as a natural resource with high trading value if it were not used exclusively for cocaine production. At the time, it was already understood that other beneficial and high-value products could be extracted from coca leaves -- for example, tea, chewing gum, syrup, toothpaste, and candy.

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Lea Ud. el Artículo en Español
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/11/8/183258/544