'Coca is a way of life'

Yet further evidence that things are rarely simple 'good vs evil' matters. The growing of coca is not necessarily a prelude to narcotics trafficking:

"You have to realise that, for us, the coca leaf is not cocaine and as such growing coca is not narco-trafficking," he says. "Neither is chewing coca nor making products from it that are separate from narcotics. The coca leaf has had an important role to play in our culture for thousands of years. It is used in many rituals. If, for example, you want to ask someone to marry you, you carry a coca leaf to them. It plays an important role in many aspects of life."
Unlike other coca-producing countries, such as Colombia, there is here a genuine history and tradition associated with coca use. To the Amerindians, Mama Coca is the daughter of Pachamama, the earth mother. "Before you go to work, especially in agriculture, you will chew some coca leaf," Morales continues. "After lunch, after a nap, you might have some. If you drive long distances for your work, you will chew it to help you stay awake. During the night, you will see police officers on patrol with their cheeks full of coca leaves.

That's why the move to decriminalise coca production was so popular in Bolivia. 6million of its 9m inhabitants are of Amerindian descent and coca is part of their culture. The global north-west really needs to think harder about the so-called war on drugs and the place it may have taken up in global politics. And the intractability to simple analysis goes deeper as the article tells; the production is much higher than the relatively innocent usage of the leaf would warrent ... if we want to eliminate this surplus production, then ways will have to be found to replace or improve on the incomes that farmers can draw from it. It's all the problems of single commodity cropping that we see with tea and coffee production but with a crop which has been demonised and so is not amenable even to a voluntarist fair trade approach. You should read about the living conditions of the producers before engaging the moral outrage module of your brain ...
President Morales is, apparently a good guy, he says;

"I want to industrialise the production of coca and we will be asking the United Nations to remove coca leaf as a banned substance for export. That way, we can create markets in legal products such as tea, medicines and herbal treatments. There has even been research in Germany which shows that toothpaste made from coca is good for the teeth. That will then enable us to be tougher on the narco-traffickers. As I said, no to zero coca, yes to zero cocaine."

Perhaps he deserves our support.
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | 'Coca is a way of life':
Filed in: coca, drugs, Bolivia, Morales, culture