Fighting for the Right to Chew Coca

Like any independent country should have to fight for that right…
Time Magazine has a pretty good article about the battle between the INCB/UN/US and the Andean nations who have used a natural and healthful plant for thousands of years — coca.

The latest affront, they say, is a recommendation this month from the UN’s drug enforcement watchdog, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), that Bolivia and Peru criminalize the practice of chewing coca and drinking its tea. The move has provoked widespread anger and street protests in the two countries, especially among the majority indigenous populations. For them, coca has been a cultural cornerstone for 3,000 years, as much a part of daily life as coffee in the U.S.

This is not bad for Time. While it gives more credulity to the INCB and the U.S. than they deserve, the article does point out the shortcomings in their arguments, and shows Peru and Bolivia as the reasonable ones in this debate.