Chewing coca at the UN
15/05/09 by drugreport.net
The speech of Mr. Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia, delivered at the high level UN meeting in Vienna on March 11th this year - you can watch the video with English substitles below (thanks for TNI for the translation).

The speech left us with mixed feelings. First of all, it was a brave step to defend the cultural heritage of the Andean people in the lion’s den of the UN drug control regime, where most of the governmental representatives speak nonsense (watch the video). He points out that the effort to eradicate an ancient tradition was not based on science, nor even on common sense: “If for centuries and centuries there has been coca leaf consumption how is it possible to end it with one agreement?”. He refutes the findings of a 1950 report that preceded the adoption of coca leaf to the list of narcotics of the 1961 Single Convention. The convention declared that “coca leaf chewing must be abolished within 25 years from the coming into force of this convention”. Morales said that the detrimental effects attributed to coca chewing are in fact nonexistent and represent cultural prejudices rather than real life experiences. He calls the prohibition of coca leaf a historical mistake to be corrected by the international community. His chewing coca at a UN drug control event is truly historical act considering the militant anti-drug language many governments use there.

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For more information: http://drogriporter.hu/en/morales