WHO: 'Six Horsemen ride out'

In 1992, the PSA launched the "WHO/UNICRI Cocaine Project", which according to a press release in March 1995 was the largest global study on cocaine use ever undertaken. The conclusions strongly conflicted with accepted paradigms so that almost as soon as the Briefing Kit started to circulate in the UN corridors, USA officials used their full weight to prevent the release of the study. Years of work and hundreds of pages of valuable facts and insights about coca and cocaine by more then 40 researchers were, in effect, "burned".

Taken from: Change of Course: An Agenda for Vienna
Drugs & Conflict Debate Papers 6, March 2003

The World Health Organization (WHO) has a particular role in the making of UN drug policy, relatively separate from the hardcore triangle UNDCP-INCB-CND. Its role is restricted to recommending, on the basis of health considerations, under which schedule of the 1961 and 1971 conventions particular substances should be categorised. This is a task for which the WHO convenes an Expert Committee on Drug Dependence every two years. The WHO only can make recommendations, the CND decides. From the beginning, the WHO has been at odds with the stablished drug control system, never finding a rationale to live with the existent illicit-licit distinction. Its mandate to look purely at health impacts leads the WHO consequently to refer to "psychoactive substances, including alcohol and tobacco". The latter two constitute a far bigger headache to them than the illicit drugs placed under the schedules of the drug control conventions. Their own statistics show, for example, that all illicit drugs taken together are estimated to cause 0.6% of lost "Disability-Adjusted Life Years", compared with 6.1% caused by alcohol and tobacco. (1)

In 1990, at the beginning of the Decade Against Drug Abuse, the WHO established its Programme on Substance Abuse (PSA), appointing six staff members to strengthen WHO's contribution to the field. The British Journal of Addiction applauded the decision with an editorial under the title "Six Horsemen ride out". One of the commentators in the journal welcomed the PSA "because now attention can be directed to correcting the balance, formerly too heavily weighted on the side of supply reduction and drug laws enforcement, whose practitioners have often reminded one, in the intensity of their belief in the 'wickedness', not only of traffickers but of the chemicals themselves, of those honest brokers (dispensers) of justice who condemned so many innocent old women to death as witches". (2) He referred to the historical document Discoverie of Witchcraft, published in 1584 to protest the rising tide of persecution of innocents by a superstitious clergy, a book condemned to be burned by King James I of England. The author saw an important function for the PSA in producing scientific facts to bring common sense to the drugs issue, which "I hope no-one would wish to burn". Subsequent events suggest that he was somewhat optimistic.

The enthusiastic PSA team decided to expand the mandate of the Expert Committee to cover a broader range of issues related to demand reduction. The 1992 Expert Committee therefore met with a dual mandate. Ten substances had to be reviewed for scheduling, but the experts were also asked "to look at the various strategies and approaches for reducing substance use and its harmful consequences". After debating the practice of traditional coca chewing in the Andes and Khat use in Africa, the committee "recommended studies looking towards possible changes in international control provisions concerning these traditional patterns of use". The Committee also concluded in its report that the "primary goal of national demand reduction programmes should be to minimize the harm associated with the use of alcohol, tobacco and other psychoactive drugs. ... for maximum effectiveness, national policies should be oriented to explicitly defined 'harm minimization' goals". (3) This conclusion was reached "not without some grumbling", especially from the side of two committee members, Hamid Ghodse, then INCB president, and Philip O. Emafo, nowadays president of the Board. In the end though, they went along with the report, which "adopted a relatively wideranging view of harm reduction, so that, for instance, regulation of the supply was seen as among the potential harm reduction strategies". (4)

WHO: Cocaine Project

In 1992, the PSA launched the "WHO/UNICRI Cocaine Project", which according to a press release in March 1995 was the largest global study on cocaine use ever undertaken. "The sometimes unexpected conclusions of the study do not represent an official position of WHO". (5) A Briefing Kit summarising the results of the study was circulated at the March 1995 CND meeting. The conclusions strongly conflicted with accepted paradigms, for example "that occasional cocaine use does not typically lead to severe or even minor physical or social problems ... a minority of people start using cocaine or related products, use casually for a short or long period, and suffer little or no negative consequences, even after years of use. ... Use of coca leaves appears to have no negative health effects and has positive, therapeutic, sacred and social functions for indigenous Andean populations." The largest future issue, according to the study, was whether the world "will continue to focus on supply reduction approaches such as crop destruction and substitution and law enforcement efforts in the face of mounting criticism and cynicism about the effectiveness of these approaches. ... There needs to be more assessment of the adverse effects of current policies and strategies and development of innovative approaches. … Current national and local approaches which over-emphasize punitive drug control measures may actually contribute to the development of health-related problems." (6)

Almost as soon as the Briefing Kit started to circulate in the UN corridors, USA officials used their full weight to prevent the release of the study. "The United States government has been surprised to note that the package seemed to make a case for the positive uses of cocaine," was the response of Neil Boyer, the USA's representative to the 48th meeting of the World Health Assembly in Geneva. He said that the WHO programme on substance abuse was "headed in the wrong direction" and "undermined the efforts of the international community to stamp out the illegal cultivation and production of coca". He denounced "evidence of WHO's support for harmreduction programmes and previous WHO association with organizations that supported the legalization of drugs." Then came a clear threat: "If WHO activities relating to drugs fail to reinforce proven drug-control approaches, funds for the relevant programs should be curtailed".(7) It had its intended effect insofar as the results of the Cocaine Project were never published. The Briefing Kit had been a premature release of the summary results, before the full research outcomes had gone through the usual thorough review and editing process. Because of the commotion, however, no agreement on the list of peer reviewers could ever be found, so the process was never completed. Years of work and hundreds of pages of valuable facts and insights about coca and cocaine by more then 40 researchers were, in effect, "burned".

Notes

1. The Global Burden of Disease; Alan D. Lopez, Epidemiology and Burden of Disease Team, World Health Organization. 2020 Focus 5, Brief 2, February 2001.
2. Action against drug abuse-Yes; A form of witch-hunt-No. Comments on the 'Six Horsemen and the WHO programme on substance abuse'. A. Haworth, in: British Journal of Addiction, 86, 1991, pp.1391-1403.
3. WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence: Twenty-eighth Report, Geneva: W.H.O. Technical Report Series No. 836, 1993.
4. Harm Reduction, Human Rights and the W.H.O. Expert Committee on Drug Dependence. Robin Room, in: Patricia Erickson, Diane Riley, Yuet Cheung and Pat O'Hare, eds., Harm Reduction: A New Direction for Drug Policies and Programs. Toronto: University of Toronto Press 1997. Pp. 119-130.
5. Publication of the largest global study on cocaine use ever undertaken. Press Release WHO/20, 14 March 1995.
6. WHO/UNICRI Cocaine Project, 5 March 1995 (unpublished Briefing Kit).
7. WHA48/1995/REC/3. Forty-Eighth World Health Assembly, Summery Records and Reports of Committees, Geneva 1-12 May 1995.

90 Official Documents on the Coca Leaf and Cocaine

Bulletin of Narcotics, from 1949 until 1996:

1. Commission of Inquiry on the Coca Leaf
   (Victor W. von Hagen) Bulletin on Narcotics - 1949 Issue 1 - 005
   Abstract: At the beginning of September this year the United Nations dispatched a Commission of Enquiry to South America to study certain aspects of two uses to which the leaf of the coca bush is put.

2. Fourth Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs
   Bulletin on Narcotics 1949 - Issue 1 - 006

3. Legal Trade in narcotics in 1949
   Bulletin on narcotics 1951 Issue 2 - 006

4. Unification of Conventions on Narcotic Drugs
   Bulletin on Narcotics 1950 Issue 2 - 005

5. Fifth Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs
   Bulletin on Narcotics 1950 Issue 3 - 005
   abstract: The fifth session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs will be of particular interest in view of the importance of its agenda.

6. Coca Chewing, Geography and Nutrition
   Bulletin on Narcotics - 1950 Issue 4 - 001
   Abstract: Coca-leaf chewing, or "coqueo" as it is called, is related to a wide diversity of factors: social, economic, biopsychological, cultural, geographical, nutritional, etc. In this paper, climate altitude and nutrition will be considered. It is a widely held opinion that because of these three factors coca-leaf chewing can to a great extent be regarded as a necessity in some parts of South America. The purpose of this paper is to inquire whether the generalization is correct or not. The three closely interrelated factors are studied in the light of social, economic and cultural factors, as well as to strictly geographical and nutritional considerations, since geography and nutrition are closely related to various social, economic and cultural factors and vice versa.

7. Commission of Inquiry on the Coca Leaf
   Bulletin on Narcotics - 1950 Issue 4 - 004
   Abstract: At the request of the Government of Peru, then of the Government of Bolivia, the United Nations sent, during the autumn of 1949, to these countries, a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the effects of chewing the coca leaf and the possibilities of limiting its production and controlling its distribution (see Bulletin on Narcotics, vol. I, no. 1, October 1949). The Commission and its secretariat left New York on 10 September 1949 and returned on 4 December 1949. Its report was completed in May 1950: two parts of this report are hereby reproduced, namely, the methods of work of the Commission, and its conclusions and recommendations.

8. New Legislation on the Coca Leaf (Peru, Bolivia, Argentina)
   Bulletin on Narcotics - 1950 Issue 4 - 005

9. The work of the commission on narcotic drugs at it's Fifth Session
   Bulletin on Narcotics 1951 Issue 2 - 007
   Abstract: At its fifth session, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs dealt primarily with three main long-range problems: the interim agreement for the limitation of the production of opium, a simplified and improved convention to replace the existing instruments on narcotics, and the question of the chewing of the coca leaf in some countries of Latin America. In view of the importance of that programme, the introduction to the report of the Commission to the Economic and Social Council1 is reproduced below.

10. New Narcotic Drugs and their International Control
    Bulletin on narcotics 1952 Issue 1 - 001

11. Special issue on the coca-leaf problem. Foreword. Bulletin on Narcotics - 1952 Issue 2 - 001
    Abstract: In accordance with a request made by the Government of Peru (April 1947) to which the Government of Bolivia adhered later (April 1949) the Economic and Social Council by resolution 159 (VII) IV (August 1948) sent a Commission of Enquiry to these two countries in order to investigate the effects of chewing the coca leaf and the possibilities of limiting its production and controlling its distribution. The Commission in the conclusions of its report declared that this habit induces harmful effects and decided in favour of the possibility of suppressing it gradually as well as of the possibility of limiting the production and of controlling the distribution of the coca leaf.

12. General Considerations on the Problem of Coca-Leaf Chewing (P. O. Wolff) Bulletin on Narcotics - 1952 Issue 2 - 002
    Abstract: In preparing the "Annotated Bibliography on the Effects of Chewing the Coca Leaf", general conclusions were reached which the Bulletin on Narcotics not so far been published. Consequently, the offer to include them in the is accepted with pleasure.

13. Psychological Aspects of Coca Addiction (Dr. Martín Cárdenas)
    Bulletin on Narcotics - 1952 Issue 2 - 003
    Abstract: Although coca addiction or the habit of chewing coca leaf is a social problem which in practice affects mainly Peru and Bolivia, it is now being studied by the United Nations Department of Social Affairs because it is related to the production of the raw material from which cocaine, a narcotic drug subject to international control, is extracted. Much has been written about the effects of coca-leaf chewing on the organism of the indigenous inhabitants of Peru and Bolivia, and there is an open controversy between those who condemn this practice as a dangerous vice and those who defend it, not so much because it is a valuable element of diet at high altitudes - which is very doubtful - as because it is a century-old custom which cannot be eradicated so long as the living conditions of the population remain as they are today.

14. The Coca Question in Bolivia (Raúl Pérez Alcalá)
    Bulletin on Narcotics - 1952 Issue 2 - 004
    Conclusions: (1) Ninety per cent of the coca produced in Bolivia is consumed by the indigenous population and the rest is exported; (2) No clinical or laboratory studies have been made so far on the biological effects of coca chewing in Bolivia, but several Peruvian studies, based on research prove that coca has a pernicious effect on the human organism; (3) The time has come to initiate measures for the substitution of the coca plant in the Yungas by other economically profitable crops. This problem should be studied and the possibility explored of raising tea, coffee and various kinds of fruit, account being taken of the social aspects affecting the consumer and the economic effects likely to be felt by the producer; (4) From a human standpoint and even more so from a national point of view, the obligation to initiate a campaign against the use of coca can no longer be evaded.

15. Limitation of the Production of Coca Leaf in Bolivia (Abel Sol?z S. of the Yungas Landowners Association)
    Bulletin on Narcotics - 1952 Issue 2 - 005
    Abstract: The conclusions and recommendations of the United Nations Commission of Enquiry on the Coca Leaf, which visited Peru and Bolivia at the invitation of the Governments of the two countries, have thrown into sharp relief the problem of the chewing of the coca leaf.

16. The Coca-Leaf Problem in Colombia
    Bulletin on Narcotics - 1952 Issue 2 - 006
    Abstract: Coca chewing and cultivation of the coca shrub exist in Colombia but on a much smaller scale than in Peru and Bolivia. The regions of consumption and cultivation are limited to certain districts of the departments of Cauca and Huila. It might be of interest to the readers of the Bulletin on Narcotics to have in summarized form the information submitted by the Colombian Government concerning its efforts to fight the production and the consumption of the coca leaf. This summary has been prepared on the basis of the reports (1946-1950) sent by the Colombian Government in accordance with article 21 of the 1931 Convention.

17. The Disappearance of Cocaism in Ecuador (Luis A. León)
    Bulletin on Narcotics - 1952 Issue 2 - 007
    Abstract: This article shows a totally different aspect of the over-all description of coca addiction in South America by revealing that the Ecuadorean Indians, who had been addicted to coca for centuries, have now completely abandoned the habit. The author concludes that the abolition of coca addiction has greatly contributed to the progress of the Ecuadorean Indian, both physically and mentally.

18. Further considerations on the coca habit in Colombia (Professor Jorge Bejarano)
    Bulletin on Narcotics - 1952 Issue 3 - 002
    Abstract: The Bulletin takes pleasure in publishing the authoritative article of Professor Bejarano on the problem of the coca leaf chewing in Colombia, on which he is also preparing a book This study- which unfortunately could not be included in the special Number on Coca (Vol IV, No 2) - goes back to the origins of the habit and examines all the aspects of the problem - although more particularly in Colombia - which years of experience and active research have made familiar to Professor Bejarano, both as a Minister and as a Professor.

19. Seventh Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1952 Isssue 3 -006
    Abstract: The proposed single convention on narcotics, which would replace the existing eight international instruments dating back to 1912, was the major concern of the seventh session of the United Nation Commission on Narcotic Drugs, held at United Nations Headquarters from 15 April to 9 May 1952.

20. Third Session of the World Health Organization Expert Committee on Drugs Liable to produce Addiction
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1952 Issue 3 - 007
    Abstract: The Expert Committee on Drugs Liable to Produce Addiction held its third session in Geneva from 7 to 12 January 1952.1

21. Bibliography
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1952 Issue 3 - 008
    Scientific Publications on Narcotic Drugs for 1951

22. The Need for Studying the Problem of Coca-Leaf Chewing
    (Pr. Dr. Carlos Monge M.)
    UNODC - Bulletin on Narcotics - 1952 Issue 4 - 003
    Abstract: The following article has been written by Professor Dr. Carlos Monge M., one of the outstanding authorities on the problem of the coca-leaf chewing, founder of the Instituto Nacional de Biología Andina for the study of the Andean man. Pr. Monge states hir position and refutes what he considers to have been misrepresentations of it; he concludes that the problem of coca-leaf chewing has not yet been fully investigated from a sientific, economic and social point of view.

23. United Nations Documents Dealing With Narcotic Drugs
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1953 Issue 1 -008
    A list of the more important United Nations documents relating to narcotic drugs is given in the following pages. These documents contain a variety of information, legal, technical, administrative and the like. Documents that were merely ephemeral have been omitted. The selection was made to help the research worker and it may not be above criticism. Since most of the documents belong to a strictly defined category, it was thought preferable to avoid multiple references which would make the list unwieldy.

24. The Eight Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and the Sixteenth Session of the Economic and Social Council
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1953 Issue 3 - 012

25. New Peruvian legislation for Cocaine manufacture Bulletin on Narcotics 1953 Issue 4 - 006

26. The Ninth Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and the Eighteenth Session of the Economic and Social Council
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1954 Issue 3 -006

27. The Ninth Session of the General Assembly
    Bulletin on narcotics 1955 Issue 1 - 011

28. Tenth Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1955-2-004

29. United Nations Documents
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1955-Issue 3-006
    Volume V, No. 1, of the Bulletin contained a list of the more important United Nations documents relating to narcotic drugs issued up to 31 December 1952. The documents now listed, issued between January 1953 and March 1955, contain a variety of information - legal, technical, administrative, etc. The list is not comprehensive, documents of ephemeral interest having been omitted. Documents have in most cases been listed under only one main heading, though it will be appreciated that to a considerable extent the topics are interlocking.

30. World Health Organization: Expert Committee on Drugs Liable to Produce Addiction
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1956 Issue 1 - 007
    Abstract: The Expert Committee on Drugs liable to Produce Addiction of the World Health Organization held its sixth session in Geneva from 24 to 29 October 1955 and made a report, which was adopted by the Executive Board of the World Health Organization at its seventeenth session, held in Geneva from 17 January to 2 February 1956 (resolution EB17.R3, Official Records of the World Health Organization, 1956, 68, 2). The main features are as follows:

31. Eleventh Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs Bulletin on Narcotics 1956 - Issue 4-006
    Abstract: The Commission on Narcotic Drugs met in Geneva from 23 April to 18 May 1956. At the first meeting it elected as officers :

32. Bibliographie
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1957 Issue 3 - 007
    Scientific Pubications on Narcotic Drugs for 1956

33. Twelfth session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1957 - 4-007
    Abstract: The Commission on Narcotic Drugs met in New York from 29 April to 31 May 1957.

34. World Health Organization
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1958 Issue 1 - 008

35. The cocaine problem in India (Dr. I. C. Chopra & Sir R. N. Chopra)
    Bulletin on Narcotics - 1958 Issue 2 - 004
    Abstract: In 1870 E. coca was brought to Ceylon from the botanical gardens at Kew, London, and in 1883 it was brought over to India. When carefully cultivated under suitable conditions, the leaves have been found to be rich in cocaine, the yield increasing with the age of the plant. In India, it was observed that the best results were obtained from plants grown on the uplands of the Nilgiri hills; those planted in the hot low plains did not thrive, and eventually died out.

36. The Fourteenth Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and the twenty-eighth Session of the Economic and Social Council
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1959 Issue 4 - 005

37. Regional Conferences on the Illicit Traffic in Drugs
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1960 Issue 4 -004

38. The Fifteenth Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and the Thirtieth Session of the Economic and Social Council
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1960 Issue 4 - 006
    The Commission on Narcotic Drugs met in Geneva from 25 April to 13 May 1960 and the Economic and Social Council met in Geneva from 5 July to 5 August 1960.

39. Present state of the coca-leaf habit in Colombia (Professor Jorge Bejarano)
    Bulletin on Narcotics - 1961 Issue 1 - 001
    Abstract: Over ten years have elapsed since action was first taken against coca-leaf chewing. The coca habit occurs locally among a few indigenous groups; geographically, it is found in the areas of Colombia where the coca bush has been cultivated. It is the leaves of this bush which are chewed.

40. Data on the illicit traffic in cocaine and coca leaves in South America, with an annex on narcotics control in Brazil (Dr. Decio Parreiras)
    Bulletin on Narcotics - 1961 Issue 4 - 005

41. The sixteenth Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, and the thirty-second session of the Economic and Social Council
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1961 Issue 4 - 007

42. Ten years of the Coca Monopoly in Peru
    Bulletin on Narcotics - 1962 Issue 1 - 002
    Abstract: Legislative decree No. 11046, of 13 June 1949,1 and the regulations issued for its application on 2 August 1949 2 set forth certain rules for the functioning of the Coca Monopoly and its administration, rules intended to ensure maximum efficiency in the control of the coca leaf and the recovery of the tax thereon, in compliance with the international conventions to which Peru is a party. The account which follows gives a picture of the government's efforts to achieve that end.

43. Some sociological aspects of the problem of cocaism (Marcel Granier-Doyeux)
    Bulletin on Narcotics - 1962 Issue 4 - 001
    Although "cocaism" means the habit of chewing coca leaves, the problem with which we are dealing should not be considered in isolation: it must be regarded as the result of a number of factors, the most important of which are ethnic, economic and social. The living conditions to which these factors give rise affect mainly, though not exclusively, the indigenous and half-breed elements of the population of the coca-producing countries.

44. The Meeting of the Inter-American Consutative Group on Narcotics Control (Rio de Janeiro, 27 November-7 December 1961)
    Bulletin on Narcotics - 1963 Issue 2 - 006
    Abstract: The Commission on Narcotic Drugs of the United Nations decided at its fourteenth session (1959) to call upon the governments of a number of countries in America to encourage close mutual co-operation of their national authorities and to work closely with the international bodies concerned in the field of narcotics control. Following that decision, the Government of Brazil invited a number of countries to a conference which met in Rio de Janeiro from 21 to 25 March 1960, and which dealt with the illicit traffic in coca leaf and cocaine.

45. Eighteenth Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and Thirty-sixth Session of the Economic and Social Council
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1963 Issue 3 -005

46. World Health Organization Expert Committee on Addiction-producing Drugs: Thirteenth Report
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1964 Issue 2 - 005

47. Consultative group on coca leaf problems (Lima, 26 November - 7 December 1962)
    Bulletin on Narcotics - 1964 Issue 3 - 004
    Abstract: The Inter-American Consultative Group on Narcotics Control, which met at Rio de Janeiro in 1961, adopted a resolution on the coca leaf problem by which it invited the United Nations to consider favourably requests of governments for technical assistance in organizing a seminar for the exchange of the experiences of the countries concerned with the problem of coca leaf chewing, since such a seminar would be helpful in adopting the most effective approach towards this question.

48. XIXth Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs 37th Session of the Economic and Social Council
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1964 Issue 4 - 006

49. Metabolism of cocaine (Dr. Fernando Montesinos A.)
    Bulletin on Narcotics - 1965 Issue 2 - 002
    Abstract: The problem of the coca leaf in Peru is one of national significance; for that reason the study of the problem, viewed from any standpoint, is always of topical importance and interest.

50. Possibilities of crop substitution for the coca bush in Bolivia (Argos A. Rodriguez)
    Bulletin on Narcotics - 1965 Issue 3 - 002
    Abstract: In 1962, the Government of Peru asked that the Consultative Group on Coca Leaf Problems in Latin America, which had just held its meeting in Lima, should meet again in the future. Accordingly, the Group held a second meeting, also in Lima, in December 1964. The Food and Agriculture Organization was asked to participate in the work of the Group through its regional representative, Mr. Argos A. Rodriguez, whose contribution was, inter alia, a report on the possibilities of crop substitution for the coca bush. Hereafter will be found the substance of that report.

51. Coca Paste-Residues from the Industrial Extraction of Cocaine Ecgonine and anhydroecgonine
    Bulletin on Narcotics - 1965 Issue 4 - 004
    Summary: The methods of determining "total ecgonine" are discussed; a method is described for determining the cocaine in coca paste (or raw cocaine): low-temperature oxidation of the secondary alkaloids with permanganate, extraction with ether, and weighing of the cocaine base. The absorption spectra are specified, and the specific optical rotations at various pH-values are given for ecgonine and anhydroecgonine, from which rotations the apparent constants of acid and basic dissociation have been deduced. The rotations obtained were measured by comparison with those obtained in the acid hydrolysis of cocaine. A description is given of a method of paper chromatography by which the ecgonine and anhydroecgonine in the mixtures are separated and then determined, and the results are given of the determinations of these two components, and of the methyl ester of anhydroecgonine, in the residues from the manufacture of cocaine from coca paste.

52. Inter-American Consultative Group on Coca Leaf Problems (Lima, 14-21 December 1964)
    Bulletin on Narcotics - 1965 Issue 4 - 005
    Abstract: The meeting of the Inter-American Consultative Group on Coca Leaf Problems was held in Lima from 14 to 21 December 1964. It was organized as a regional project under resolution 1395 (XIV) of the General Assembly of the United Nations which established a continuing programme of technical assistance in narcotics control. It followed a recommendation made by the Consultative Group on Coca Leaf Problems held at Lima in 1962, endorsed by the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and finally by the Economic and Social Council suggesting that meetings of that kind should be held periodically. This meeting is a follow-up to other meetings of the same nature which took place in 1960, 1961 and 1962.

53. The question of the coca leaf Economic and Social Council: E/RES/1966/1105(XL), 4 March 1966

54. Twenty Years of Narcotics Control under the United Nations
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1966 Issue 1 - 001

55. Review of the Twentieth Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs Fortieth session of the Economic and Social council
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1966 Issue 1 -003
    Abstract: The Commission on Narcotic Drugs held its twentieth session in Geneva from 29 November to 21 December 1965.

56. Work of the permanent Central Narcotics Board in 1965
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1966 Issue 2 - 006

57. World Health Organization Expert Committee on dependence-producing drugs
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1967 Issue 1 - 006

58. Review of the twenty-first session of the Comission on Narcotic Drugs Forty-Second session of the economic and Social Council
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1967 Issue 2 - 006

59. Psychological deficit in chewers of coca leaf (J.C.H. Negrete, H.B.M. Murphy)
    Bulletin on Narcotics - 1967 Issue 4 - 003
    Abstract: The chewing of the leaves of the coca plant (Erythroxilum coca or Erythroxilum truxillense) is a habit affecting several million people of the Andean regions of South America. Dependence on it is known to be mild and since the habit usually disappears when users are given better social opportunities (e.g. in the army) there would be grounds for allowing it to die a natural death were there not the suspicion that it produced chronic brain damage. This suspicion has a long history and is based mainly on the fact that chronic users tend to look dull and apathetic [12], [19 ], but it has also for long been recognised that such apathy might be due to social conditions, malnutrition or physical exhaustion. Claims have been made that there is a specific delusional psychosis associated with the habit [5] and that an allegedly high incidence of epilepsy and degenerative stigmata in some groups of users [6] might be due to it, but there is no proof. There is no doubt that in the areas where the habit is mainly found one can also find much illiteracy (up to 90%) and low social achievement [6], [16], but which is cause and which is effect remains in question.

60. Review of the 22nd Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and the 44th Session of the Economic and Social Council
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1968 Issue 2 - 004

61. The effects of abstinence and of re-training on the chewer of coca-leaf
    (H.B.M. Murphy, O. Rios , J.C. Negrete)
    Bulletin on Narcotics - 1969 Issue 2 - 004
    Abstract: In a previous paper [4 ] it was demonstrated that long-term chewers of coca-leaf show relative signs of chronic brain damage when compared with controls of similar background who have taken little or no coca-leaf. The psychological deficit was found only through tests specifically designed to reveal signs of brain damage and was not apparent in the subjects' daily life and work, so that it must be viewed as of minor importance in comparison with the much greater handicaps which socio-economic conditions impose on both users and non-users of coca in the Andean region. However, when the economic situation is improved - which one hopes will be soon - then the matter could become more important. In particular, these earlier findings raise the question whether the long-term use of coca would prevent the habitués from taking advantage of new opportunities, particularly if these opportunities involved learning new skills.

62. First Report of the International Narcotics Control Board
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1969 issue 3 -005

63. Review of the twenty-third session of the commission on Narcotic Drugs and the forty-sixth session of the Economic and Social Council
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1969 Issue 3 - 004

64. Report of the International Narcotics Control Board
    Bulletin on narcotics 1970 Issue 3 - 005

65. Coca Chewing and Health: on epidemiologic Study among Residents of a Peruvian Village (Alfred A. BUCK, Tom T. SASAKI, Jean J. HEWITT, Anne A. MACRAE)
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1970 Issue 4 - 003

66. Report of the International Narcotics Control Board on its work in 1970
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1971 Issue 3 - 004

67. Report of the International Narcotics Control Board on its work in 1971
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1972 Issue 2 - 003

68. Report of the International Narcotics Control Board on its work in 1972
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1973 Issue 2 - 005

69. South American Governmental Expert Meeting on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and South American Plenpotentiary Conference on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Lorenzo A. OLIVIERI)
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1974 Issue 1 - 001

70. Third Special Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1974 issue 2 - 005

71. Use of Coca Leaf in Southern Peru: Adaptation or Addiction
    (Joel M. HANNA , Conrad A. HORNICK)
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1977 Issue 1 -006

72. Twenty-seventh session of the Comission on Narcotic Drugs Bulletin on narcotics 1977 Issue 4 - 001

73. Further Experience With the Syndroms Produced by Coca Paste Smoking
    (F. R. JERI, C.C. SANCHEZ, T. del POZO, M. FERNANDEZ, C. CARBAJAL)
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1978 Issue 3-001

74. Constituents of Erythroxylum Coca I: Gas chromatographic Analysis of Cocaine from Three Locations in Peru
    (Carlton E. TURNER,, Cheng Y. MA, Mahmoud A. ELSOHLY,)
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1979 Issue 1 -008

75. Ethnographic and Secrecy Patterns among Drug Abusers
    (P. H. HUGHES, G. K. JARVIS, U. KHANT, M. E. MEDINA-MORA, V. NAVARATNAM, V. POSHYACHINDA, K. A. WADUD)
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1982 Issue 1 -001
    Abstract: The underground nature of drug abuse is a major cross-national barrier to the collection of sound epidemiological data. The authors examine some common patterns of secrecy developed by drug abusers to avoid social disapproval or punishment in different socio-cultural settings. Assurances of anonymity and confidentiality may not be sufficient to make the majority of heavy drug abusers "visible" to the researcher. One way to overcome this barrier is to train field staff to recognize certain ethnographic signs, i.e. the specific appearance and behaviour of drug abusers that can facilitate identification of target populations.

76. Recent Development in the Abuse of Cocaine (S. COHEN)
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1984 Issue 2 - 001
    Abstract: Cocaine is a powerful euphoriant and it relieves, though only transiently, depression, dread and dysphoria. New patterns of cocaine abuse, such as the inhalation of vaporized cocaine base, the intravenous injection of cocaine hydrochloride and the smoking of coca paste, produce a brief elation that quickly gives way either to a return to the baseline mood or to displeasure, resulting in a strong desire to return to the momentary ecstatic experience, a cycle that leads to compulsive use. The enormous profits made from illicit traffic in cocaine lead to corruption, violence and political destabilization. The individual costs of cocaine abuse include loss of personal fortunes, jobs and families. The safety of cocaine use is a myth. There are a number of ways in which cocaine can be lethal. The high doses of cocaine abused today induce physical dependence, but this is less a contributory factor than the intense psychological craving to perpetuate cocaine use. There is no specific way to treat dysfunctional cocaine use; instead the treatment plan must deal with the individual??s specific situation. Except for a reduction of cocaine supply at the source, preventive measures are only feasible in the context of abstinence from all abusable drugs.

77. Coca-Paste Smoking in Some Latin-American Countries: a Severe and Unabated Form of Addiction (F. RA?L JERI)
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1984 Issue 2 - 002
    Abstract: Coca paste is an intermediary product in the chemical extraction of cocaine from coca leaves. Abusers smoke coca paste in a dried form, which contains from 40 to 91 per cent cocaine. Over the past 10 years, this pattern of drug abuse has attained epidemic proportions in some Latin American countries, particularly in Bolivia, Colombia and Peru. Addiction to coca paste develops in a few months and has serious health, social and economic consequences. The problem is particularly acute in Latin American countries because of the high doses of coca paste involved. The smoking of coca paste causes four distinct successive phases of mental disorder: euphoria, dysphoria, hallucinosis and paranoid psychosis. It can produce severe intoxication, prolonged or relapsing psychosis and, in some cases, death. Cocaine has been found in the blood of coca-leaf chewers, coca-paste smokers and users of cocaine hydrochloride. Excessive coca-paste smoking is often resistant to therapeutic interventions and there is a high rate of relapse after treatment and rehabilitation.

78. A Laboratory Approach to the Control of Cocaine in Bolivia
    (MERCEDES MORALES-VACA)
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1984 Issue 2 - 003
    Abstract: Of the 4,196 samples of drugs seized and analysed at the Toxicology Laboratory of the National Bureau for the Control of Dangerous Substances during the period 1975 - 1982, 3,768 samples (89.8 per cent) contained coca paste, cocaine hydrochloride or related substances. Most of the samples analysed contained coca paste and came from La Paz, Santa Cruz and Cochabamba. With a slight exception in 1980, the number of samples increased steadily over an eight-year period. The increase in the number of seizures of cocaine-related substances was a result of the growth in the illicit production of these substances, which began to assume larger dimensions in 1976. In many areas, coca-paste and cocaine-related problems are growing out of all proportion. The smoking of cigarettes that contain a mixture of tobacco and coca paste, popularly known as pitillos,is the most common form of drug abuse.

79. Illicit Traffic and Abuse of Cocaine
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1984 Issue 2 - 004
    Abstract: There has been an increasing availability and abuse of cocaine in Canada in recent years. Cocaine abuse has spread from the affluent adult sectors of society to middle-income groups and the young, involving large sections of the population. The increase in illicit demand for, and the social acceptability of, cocaine has led to an increase in illicit cocaine supply. The availability of cocaine on the illicit market has been sustained by a vast over-production of the raw materials needed to produce cocaine in coca-growing areas of South America and the activities of sophisticated trafficking organizations with large operations and profits. As a result, cocaine prices at the wholesale level in South America and Canada are declining, and at the retail level in Canada have remained relatively stable or have slightly decreased. It has been estimated that more than one half of the amount of cocaine on the illicit market in Canada was illegally produced in Colombia, but the main quantities of the raw materials used for such production originated in Bolivia and Peru. Cocaine is smuggled into Canada primarily by commercial air transport, arriving at the three principal ports of entry, namely Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, from whence it is distributed to other parts of the country. As drug law enforcement efforts increase in one area, traffickers shift their illicit operations to other areas in an attempt to escape detection. Current evidence suggests that both the availability and abuse of cocaine in Canada are likely to increase in the coming years.

80. Study of the Concentration of the Herbicide (2,4 dichlorophenoxy)-acetic acid in Coca Leaves and paste obtained from plants treated with this Herbicide
    (M. A. ELSOHLY, , E. S. ARAFAT and , A. B. JONES , P.G. VINCENT , B.F. ENGELKE, , J.L. HILTON and , W.A. GENTNE)
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1984 Issue 2 -006
    Abstract: The herbicide (2,4-dichlorophenoxy)-acetic acid (2,4-D) is considered to be the most cost-effective for eradicating illicit coca plants. Since coca leaves are chewed by the natives of coca producing areas, and, since coca paste and cocaine are widely abused, a study was undertaken to determine whether 2,4-D is translocated into the leaves and transferred to coca paste when coca plants are treated with this herbicide. The study concluded that basal treatment of coca plants with 2,4-D ester resulted in translocation of 2,4-D into the leaves, and this herbicide was detected in high concentrations one week after treatment. Coca paste prepared from leaves obtained from basally treated plants did not contain 2,4-D. Foliage spraying resulted in extremely high concentrations of 2,4-D in the leaves, with significantly high concentrations of the herbicide found one week after spraying. Trace amounts of 2,4-D were detected in coca paste prepared from plants sprayed by the foliage method.

81. The Detection and Characterization of Controlled Drugs Imported into the United Kingdom
    (P. J. O'NEIL, G. F PHILLIPS and, T. A. GOUGH)
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1985 Issue 1 -002
    Abstract: The Laboratory of the Government Chemist examines most of the drugs that have been seized at the point of entry into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and has developed analytical methods for their rapid identification in the field and for more exact analysis and quantitation in the Laboratory. These methods are described for the major types of drugs encountered. Many seizures are examined in greater detail in order to compare samples and to correlate origin with physical and chemical appearance. Information on the procedures necessary to undertake this aspect of work is also presented.

82. Topics in the Chemistry of Cocaine (H. L. SCHLESINGER)
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1985 Issue 1 -005
    Abstract: Literature concerning the taxonomy and alkaloid content of the coca plant is examined in this article. The process used to extract cocaine alkaloids from the plant is described and information relating to the constituents of illicitly processed cocaine reported. Investigations into the stereochemistry of cocaine resulting from United States laws controlling such drugs are reviewed. Advances in presumptive tests for cocaine are described and some comments are made relative to trends in chromatographic analysis.

83. Basic Elements for a National Comprehensive Plan for Drug Abuse Control in Peru (R. FLORES AGREDA)
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1987 Issue 2 -004
    Abstract: The first part of the article describes the nature and extent of drug abuse in Peru, with particular reference to the illicit cultivation of the coca plant and the national responses to these problems. It is estimated that between 150,000 and 200,000 hectares are under illicit coca plant cultivation, although less than 18,000 hectares are sufficient for meeting the legitimate needs for this plant in the country. It was estimated that 1.3 million children and youth were at risk of drug abuse in 1985. Both the problems and national responses are analysed in the context of historical and current developments that have influenced Peruvian drug abuse control policy, as well as in terms of the adequacy of programmes carried out within the social sectors involved in such control. The second part of the article summarizes the salient points extracted from the new national comprehensive plan for drug abuse control, which is intended to achieve a maximum reduction in drug abuse concurrently with the elimination of drug trafficking and the eradication of illicit coca plant cultivation in the country. The plan clearly defines the objectives, the strategies and the division of responsibilities in its implementation, involving the following four major sectors of activity: prevention, treatment and rehabilitation; control and monitoring of substances used for legitimate purposes; suppression of the illicit drug traffic; and the eradication of illicit coca plant growing together with the promotion of agricultural, agro-industrial and forestall development. It is pointed out that the whole nation needs to be mobilized in the implementation of the plan in order to achieve its objectives fully.

84. Coca-Leaf production in the Andean Subregion (R. ABRUZZESE)
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1989 Issue 1-007
    Abstract: The estimated areas under coca-bush cultivation in 1988 are expected to total 44,300 hectares in Bolivia, 25,000 hectares in Colombia, 400 hectares in Ecuador and 1 14,400 hectares in Peru. The estimated projections for 1989 indicate that coca-leaf production may amount to 68,200 tonnes in Bolivia, 20,000 tonnes in Colombia. 300 tonnes in Ecuador and 120,100 tonnes in Peru. Of all the Andean countries, Venezuela is the only one that has no coca-leaf production problem. According to estimates for the period from 1985 to 1989, coca-leaf production will increase by 43.3 per cent in Bolivia, by 13.6 per cent in Colombia and by 26.2 per cent in Peru. Coca-leaf production in Ecuador has consistently followed a downward trend. According to estimates, since 1985 coca-leaf production in Peru has accounted for more than one half of the total amount produced in the Andean sub region, while production in Colombia, though it has increased in the same period, has accounted for a relatively small share. In 1987, estimated coca-leaf production in Bolivia amounted to 30.2 per cent of the total amount produced in the sub region.

85. Illicit Narcotics Cultivation and Processing: the Ignored Environmental Drama (L. ARMSTEAD)
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1992 Issue 2 - 001
    Abstract: Drug abuse and the environment are among the most pre- occupying issues in today's world. Up to now, relatively little attention has been given to linkages between these two issues, which are at. first glance unconnected in any meaningful way. More careful analysis identifies major linkages between the environmental impact of illicit drug cultivation, the rapid expansion of illicit cultivation into tropical forest areas, the efforts to eradicate illicit crops and pollution through the processing of raw materials into drugs of abuse. This article reviews those linkages and recommends measures that might be taken to deal with their consequences.

86. Environment and Narcotics Trafficking in Brazil
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1992 Issue 2 - 002
    Abstract: his study of the State of Rondonia in Brazil sheds light on how and why the cultivation of illicit narcotics crops and drug trafficking are affecting non-industrialized regions. It also highlights the negative impact of such activities on tropical ecosystems and human population.

87. Environment and Drug Trafficking
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1992 Issue 2 - 003
    Abstract: Illicit drug trafficking is a very complex matter, not only because it causes serious and pernicious problems in the socioeconomic sphere, but because drug-taking can lead to personal degradation. To this situation, lamentable enough in itself, must be added the immense ecological and environmental damage, which presents grave and serious dangers for the planet.

88. Environmental Impact of Coca Cultivation and Cocaine Production in the Amazon Region of Peru (M. DOUROJEANNI)
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1992 Issue 2 - 005
    Abstract: Little or nothing has been written about the environmental consequences of the cultivation of coca and the production of basic cocaine paste. Nevertheless, there is much evidence that both activities have a severe and irreparable impact on the ecosystems in which they are carried out. This chapter describes the situation in the Peruvian Amazon, discusses the consequences of these activities, and recommends measures to improve current conditions

89. High Dose Cocaine Use in Bolivia and Peru
    (M. GOSSOP , M. BUTRON , M. MOLLA)
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1994 Issue 2 -004
    Abstract: Drug-producing countries such as the Andean countries of South America where cocaine is manufactured are confronted by special difficulties associated with the widespread availability of drugs. There have been few detailed reports of patterns of use in relation to the type and severity of cocaine dependence problems within those countries. The present study looks at the patterns of cocaine use in relation to severity of dependence among a clinical sample of South American cocaine users. Information about patterns of cocaine use and severity of dependence was collected from a sample of 68 drug users who were receiving treatment for cocaine problems at treatment centres in Bolivia and Peru. Levels of cocaine consumption were extremely high. The mean daily dose was 16,4 grams. The majority of the users (87 per cent) smoked cocaine in the form of pasta, pitillo or basuco. More than half of the sample reported using cocaine at least 20 times a day. Severity-of- dependence scale scores were high and these are consistent with the frequent and compulsive pattern of use reported within the sample. It is suggested that the more severe cocaine problems reported in South America compared to some western countries may be due to the substantial differences in the amounts of cocaine which are typically ingested. In the Bolivian sample most of the users were taking cocaine in amounts which greatly exceed those usually seen in western countries.

90. Rapid Assessment of Drug Consumption at Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
    (L. CARIS , R. SUAREZ , G. COVARRUBIAS , E. FERNANDEZ , E. ROCA)
    Bulletin on Narcotics 1996 Issue 1 -008
    Abstract: The present paper describes a rapid assessment carried out in 1996 at Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, with a view to defining the sociocultural groups at risk and gaining insight, through the comments of those interviewed, into their perceptions of the phenomenon of drug abuse, their reasons for abusing drugs, the drugs most frequently abused and the psychological and social factors involved when they enter, remain in and finally leave drug-abusing circles. By using qualitative methodology and techniques it was possible to gain access to the typical world inhabited by the interviewees, and thus to characterize the subjects of the study in the light of their closest social reference points (family, peer group, education and work). Among the conclusions of the study are the following: drug abuse is a complex and dynamic phenomenon that has occurred throughout the society of Santa Cruz, fostered by cultural and economic factors; there is a need for society, and especially the Government, to devise a specific, focused and diversified range of services, both in prevention and in rehabilitation, with integration and participation being key features of such initiatives; and the mechanisms for controlling the production of drugs and drug trafficking need to be strengthened.

History: UN and Coca

In 1961 the coca leaf was listed on Schedule I of the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs together with cocaine and heroin. The inclusion of coca has caused much harm to the Andean region and a historical correction is long overdue, for the sake of further conflict prevention and out of respect for the Andean culture.

The rationale for including the coca leaf in the 1961 Single Convention is mainly rooted in a report requested of the United Nations by the permanent representative of Peru that was prepared by a commission that visited Bolivia and Peru briefly in 1949. In this section you will find part of the original report (which is now almost impossible to find) and an overview of the discussions in the UN bodies on the coca issue.

• Report of the Commission of Enquiry on the Coca Leaf, May 1950 (Conclusions and Recommendations) [PDF]. Report to the CND and UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) that led to the scheduling of the coca leaf in the 1961 UN Single Convention. See also:
  • Commission of Inquiry on the Coca Leaf
    Bulletin on Narcotics - 1949 Issue 1 - 005
    Abstract: At the beginning of September of 1949 the United Nations dispatched a Commission of Enquiry to South America to study certain aspects of two uses to which the leaf of the coca bush is put.
  • Commission of Inquiry on the Coca Leaf
    Bulletin on Narcotics - 1950 Issue 4 - 004
    Abstract: At the request of the Government of Peru, then of the Government of Bolivia, the United Nations sent, during the autumn of 1949, to these countries, a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the effects of chewing the coca leaf and the possibilities of limiting its production and controlling its distribution (see Bulletin on Narcotics, vol. I, no. 1, October 1949). The Commission and its secretariat left New York on 10 September 1949 and returned on 4 December 1949. Its report was completed in May 1950: two parts of this report are hereby reproduced, namely, the methods of work of the Commission, and its conclusions and recommendations.
  • Coca Chewing, Geography and Nutrition
    Bulletin on Narcotics - 1950 Issue 4 - 001
    Abstract: Coca-leaf chewing, or "coqueo" as it is called, is related to a wide diversity of factors: social, economic, biopsychological, cultural, geographical, nutritional, etc. In this paper, climate altitude and nutrition will be considered. It is a widely held opinion that because of these three factors coca-leaf chewing can to a great extent be regarded as a necessity in some parts of South America. The purpose of this paper is to inquire whether the generalization is correct or not. The three closely interrelated factors are studied in the light of social, economic and cultural factors, as well as to strictly geographical and nutritional considerations, since geography and nutrition are closely related to various social, economic and cultural factors and vice versa.
• CND Res.1(VII). The Problem of the Coca Leaf (1952)
• Bulletin of Narcotics from 1949 until 1996: 90 documents on the coca leaf and cocaine
• Bolivia's reservations to 1988 UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Bolivia declared the provisions of the paragraph which could be interpreted as establishing as a criminal offence the use, consumption, possession, purchase or cultivation of the coca leaf for personal consumption, inapplicable because they are contrary to principles of its Constitution and basic concepts of its legal system which embody respect for the culture, legitimate practices, values and attributes of the nationalities making up Bolivia's population.

The Art of the Possible Presentations

Introductory Remarks from WOLA on Vimeo.

Drug Decriminalization: A Trend Takes Shape

The trend of "drug decriminalization" is quickly taking shape in Latin America. Increasingly, many countries are leaning toward decriminalization as an alternative approach, hoping that it will be effective both in reducing consumption and dealing with associated health problems.