Bolivia says re-admitted to UN drug convention on its own terms
Bolivia says re-admitted to UN drug convention on its own terms
Sat, 12 Jan 2013 03:28 GMT
Source: reuters // Reuters
LA PAZ, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Bolivia on Friday said it had been re-admitted to the U.N. anti-narcotics convention after persuading member states to recognize the right of its indigenous people to chew raw coca leaf, which is used in making cocaine.
President Evo Morales had faced opposition from Washington in his campaign against the classification of coca as an illicit drug.
"The coca leaf has accompanied indigenous peoples for 6,000 years," said Dionisio Nunez, Bolivia's deputy minister of coca and integrated development. "Coca leaf was never used to hurt people. It was used as medicine."
The leaf was declared an illegal narcotic in the 1961 U.N. Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, along with cocaine, heroin, opium and morphine and a host of chemical drugs.
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