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Andean Group - February 2017 (ISSN 1741-4466)

Congress approves new coca law

Bolivia’s plurinational bicameral legislature this month approved a new coca law which permits 22,000 hectares of coca to be grown legally. This is nearly double the 12,000ha designated by the current 1988 law and above the 20,000ha currently tolerated by the government led by President Evo Morales (himself a former coca grower [cocalero]), which pursues a drugs policy of ‘Coca Sí, Cocaína No’ (distinguishing between the raw coca leaf, an important symbol of indigenous culture, and cocaine, the illegal narcotic). The new limits are also significantly above the 14,705ha which a 2013 European Union (EU)-funded study on the legal uses of coca in Bolivia found should be sufficient to meet traditional demand in the country.

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