Coca-chewing Bolivians press for end to UN ban

[Serpo]

Coca-chewing Bolivians press for end to UN ban
AFP


LA PAZ (AFP) – Bolivians chewed coca leaves in demonstrations around the country Wednesday to push for a change in a 1961 UN convention to remove a ban on a practice that has been part of indigenous cultures here for millennia.

Protesters gathered outside the US embassy in La Paz to chew the leaf as part of a day of demonstrations around the country celebrating the coca plant and demanding that the UN Single Convention on Narcotics Drugs be amended.

The United States has said it would oppose the Bolivian proposal, calling the 50 year old convention "an important tool in the global struggle against narcotics trafficking."

The agreement designates the coca leaf as a narcotic, and calls on countries to eradicate coca leaf chewing.

Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca has been visiting European capitals, seeking support for the amendment. The United Nations has until January 31 to decide whether to change the treaty.

"The countries support us so that we can de-penalize (coca chewing); the only one opposing us is the United States," said Leonilda Zurita, a coca grower and a leader of the ruling Movement Toward Socialism party.

Marches in La Paz, Santa Cruz and other cities drew coca growers, peasants, Indians, miners, makers of coca-based products, activists and lawmakers from the ruling party.

In city plazas, participants chewed coca leaves, a practice known as "acullico" in the Aymara language, or "pijcheo" in Quechua.

The coca leaf (Erythroxylum coca) is part of everyday life for people in the Andean region. An estimated seven million people in a region stretching from southern Colombia through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, northern Chile and Argentina chew coca leaves, as did their ancestors going back many generations.

Known for its stimulating and blood oxygenation properties, the little green leaf is loaded with vitamins and 14 alkaloids.

Chewed coca releases a mild narcotic which serves to combat altitude sickness, hunger and fatigue.

President Evo Morales rose to power as the leader of a coca growers' union.

And since 2009, Bolivia's constitution describes coca as a "cultural heritage, a renewable natural resource" and a key biodiversity element that helps maintain "Bolivian social cohesion."

The US embassy, in a statement reaffirming US opposition to the proposed amendment to the UN convention, said it was willing to work with the Bolivian government "out of respect for these millennial practices."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110126/lf_afp/boliviaunhealthlifestyledrugscoca_20110126200323

[Antonio]

These people are healthy and living long lives inspite of their meager nutrition.

This is the only way to do coke, take it from me ;).

[Libertytree]

It figures the US is the asshole in the crowd, per usual. Same with us and hemp.

[oldmansmith]

No plant should ever be illegal.

[Neuro]

Bolivian Foreign Minister King David The Jew COCACHEWA

[Neuro]

No plant should ever be illegal.
Not even Juristic Person???

[Twisted Titan]

Protesters gathered outside the US embassy in La Paz to chew the leaf as part of a day of demonstrations around the country celebrating the coca plant and demanding that the UN Single Convention on Narcotics Drugs be amended.


At no place in there did it say ANYTHING about the "sovereign" Bolivian Gubbermint.

Citizens are Begging not one but TWO Foriegn entities for the abilty to excersise there God Given rights.

It may seem strange now.......but It wont be when the sheeple here are beggin the UN too.


T

[midnight rambler]

It figures the US is the asshole in the crowd, per usual. Same with us and hemp.


You'd be an asshole to if you had so much money (especially black budgets), control over others, prison industries, excuses for shaking down the citizenry, very useful and effective social engineering, etc. at stake.

[woodman]

No plant should ever be illegal.
Not even Juristic Person???

Good one Neuro ;D

[Serpo]

These people are healthy and living long lives inspite of their meager nutrition.

This is the only way to do coke, take it from me ;).



Coca is a densely-leafed plant native to the eastern slopes of the Andes. Erythroxylon coca is widely cultivated in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. It is also widely cultivated in Columbia, currently the source of some 80 percent of the world's cocaine.

According to ex-New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, "Colombia has probably the best cocaine, the best heroin, and the best marijuana in the world. And the best coffee".

Typically, coca thrives in warm, moist valleys between 1500 and 6000 metres above sea level. The plant grows to a height of up to eight feet. The leaves are rich in vitamins, protein, calcium, iron and fiber. The cocaine content of the leaves ranges from O.1% to 0.9%; like the user, it tends to get higher with altitude. Chewing coca also counters the symptoms of 'mountain sickness' and oxygen-deprivation. The daily dose of the average coquero is around 200mg.

Chewing coca leaves with a dash of powdered lime is a nutritious and energising way to induce healthy mood without causing an unsustainable high. Unfortunately, it is not very good for one's teeth.

Stictly speaking, the leaves aren't actually chewed. Typically, the dried coca leaf is moistened with saliva. The wad is placed between the gum and cheek and it is gently sucked. The invigorating juices are swallowed. Lime-rich materials such as burnt seashells or a cereal are used to promote the separation of the leaf's active alkaloid.

Shamans from some traditional Indian tribes still smoke coca leaves for magical purposes. Inhaling the sacred vapors induces a trance-like state. Coca enables a shaman to cross 'the bridge of smoke', enter the world of spirits, and activate his magical powers. Alas the leaves don't travel well; and this ancient usage is uncommon in the urban industrial West.

http://www.druglibrary.org/Schaffer/cocaine/cokleaf.htm

[Antonio]

Don`t even get me started on lime/chalk to extract cocaine from coca or calcium morphinate from opium ;)
Next thing you know,I`ll be raving about the joys of having a quantity of acetic anhydride to convert morphine to heroin. ;D

[woodman]

Protesters gathered outside the US embassy in La Paz to chew the leaf as part of a day of demonstrations around the country celebrating the coca plant and demanding that the UN Single Convention on Narcotics Drugs be amended.


At no place in there did it say ANYTHING about the "sovereign" Bolivian Gubbermint.

Citizens are Begging not one but TWO Foriegn entities for the abilty to excersise there God Given rights.

It may seem strange now.......but It wont be when the sheeple here are beggin the UN too.


T


Amazing isn't it? They are openly acting as though they are a Federal Government at the international level now. The UN that is and by proxy, the hybristic Zionist government in Washington. Who the hell are we to tell a people what they can and can't put in their body? It really gets me angry.

[Serpo]

BOLIVIA'S bid to legalize the coca leaf was due to be challenged today in a formal objection by the US.

President Evo Morales of Bolivia has said that the United Nations ban on the leaf, which hails from the Bolivian Andes, was a "historic error," and is backing a campaign to overturn a 1961 UN convention that categorises the stimulant as an illegal narcotic.

However, the US says that the Bolivian crop is increasingly being used in cocaine production, citing UN figures that suggest the drug's manufacture has steadily increased since Morales took office in 2006.

Last week Morales drank from a bottle of a new coca-based energy drink "Coca Brynco" and said that the international body must overturn the ban, asking, "How can it be possible that the coca leaf, which represents our identity, which is ancestral, be penalized?"




"We want to reaffirm with this product that the coca leaf is healthy," the Rural Development Minister, Nemesia Achacollo, said at a presentation. "We must defend our coca leaf and show it's not a drug."

The Coca plant and its leaves have formed an important part of South American culture.

Bolivia's request will be approved unless any other countries lodge an objection to the request before January, 30, 2011.

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/bolivia-seeks-to-overturn-coca-leaf-ban-despite-us-opposition/story-e6frfku0-1225991969769

[k-os]

I don't really understand this. Is this restriction only on Bolivia?

When I went to Peru, cocoa leaves were widely available in shops and also served whole in tea, everywhere. I chewed them, but my desire not to have something bitter in my mouth was greater than my desire to be high, apparently.

I agree with those who said that no plant should be illegal, and that one nation has no right to tell another nation what they are allowed to ingest.

[7th trump]

I don't really understand this. Is this restriction only on Bolivia?

When I went to Peru, cocoa leaves were widely available in shops and also served whole in tea, everywhere. I chewed them, but my desire not to have something bitter in my mouth was greater than my desire to be high, apparently.

I agree with those who said that no plant should be illegal, and that one nation has no right to tell another nation what they are allowed to ingest.

K-os,
We are not operating as a sovern nation but under the UN.
Once a member any member can dictate to another or influence those nation not members.

[Twisted Titan]

Amazing isn't it? They are openly acting as though they are a Federal Government at the international level now. The UN that is and by proxy, the hybristic Zionist government in Washington. Who the hell are we to tell a people what they can and can't put in their body? It really gets me angry.


That is the True Power of Debt.

It gives the debt holder the abilty to make People second class citizens at the stroke of a Pen