Peru Halts Coca Eradication -- For Now
The government of newly elected Peruvian President Ollanta Humala announced last week that it is suspending the US-backed coca eradication program in the Upper Huallaga Valley, the only ongoing...
View ArticleEradication Sparks Conflict in Peru's Coca Fields [FEATURE]
Newly installed Peruvian President Ollanta Humala is facing the first serious challenge to his authority as coca farmer unions have gone on strike to protest the resumption of coca plant eradication....
View ArticleBolivia Restores Ties with US, But Rejects DEA
The US and Bolivian governments announced Monday that they were restoring diplomatic relations after three years, but Bolivian President Evo Morales Tuesday made it clear that DEA agents would not be...
View ArticleDrug Crop-Killing Fungi Too Risky, Scientists Say
Using pathogenic fungi to eradicate coca, opium, or other illicit drug crops is too risky because there is not enough data about how to control them and what effect they could have on people and the...
View ArticleThe Top Ten International Drug Policy Stories of 2011 [FEATURE]
[image:1 align:right]The new year is upon us and 2011 is now a year for the history books. But we can't let it go without recognizing the biggest global drug policy stories of the year. From the...
View ArticlePeru Fires Reformist Drug Czar
Ricardo Soberon, the reformist head of DEVIDA, the Peruvian drug agency, has been fired and replaced, the Peruvian government announced Tuesday. Soberon made waves last August when he implemented a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
INCB Attacks Bolivia on Coca Stance
Drying the leaves in the warehouse. The sign reads ''Coca Power and Territory, Dignity and Sovereignty, Regional Congress 2006-08'' (photo by the author) In its 2011 Annual Report, the International...
View ArticleMorales Defends Coca-Chewing at UN Anti-Drug Meeting
Holding a coca leaf in his hand, Bolivian President Evo Morales Monday told a United Nations anti-drug meeting that Bolivians had the right to chew coca leaves, saying coca was not cocaine and that its...
View ArticleColombia Bill Would Decriminalize Drug Plant Cultivation
A bill before the Colombian congress would decriminalize the cultivation of coca and marijuana in a bid to drive down raw drug prices and encourage peasant farmers to grow other crops. The bill is...
View ArticleColombia Bill to Decriminalize Drug Crops Advances
A the first draft of a bill that would decriminalize the cultivation of illegal drug plants in Colombia, including coca, opium poppies, and marijuana, was approved by its lower house of congress last...
View ArticleColombian Coca Cultivation Ticks Upward
Coca cultivation in Colombia was on the rise again last year for the first time since 2007, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime's (UNODC) latest annual Colombia Survey. The survey, which is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Book Review: Drugs, Insecurity, and Failed States: The Problems of Prohibition
Chronicle Book Review: Drugs, Insecurity, and Failed States: The Problems of Prohibition by Nigel Inkster and Virginia Comolli (2012, Adelphi, 163 pp. PB, $12.50) Longtime readers of Drug War...
View ArticleColombia, FARC Rebels Set Peace Talks
For the first time in nearly a decade, the Colombian government will sit down for peace talks with the Marxist guerrillas of the FARC, which has been fighting to create a socialist Colombia since 1964....
View ArticlePeru Coca Crop Keeps Getting Bigger
[image:1 align:right caption:true]Coca cultivation in Peru increased again last year, up 5.2% over 2010, according to the 2011 coca monitoring survey conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and...
View ArticleUS, Few Others Object to Bolivia UN Coca-Chewing Bid
Four Western countries—the US, Britain, Italy, and Sweden—have formally objected to Bolivia's rejoining the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs with a reservation that allows for the...
View ArticleBolivia Rejoins UN Drug Treaty, Sans Coca Ban
Bolivia will rejoin the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs after its bid to rejoin with a reservation that it does not accept the treaty's requirement that "coca leaf chewing must be banned" was...
View ArticleColombia's FARC Wants Legal Coca Cultivation
In peace talks in Havana Tuesday, Colombia's FARC guerrillas called on the Colombian government to consider legalizing coca cultivation. The proposal was part of the FARC's broader proposal on agrarian...
View ArticlePeru Rebels Call on Farmers to Defend Coca Crops
Remnants of Peru's Shining Path guerrillas are calling on coca farmers in the country's south-central coca-producing region to take up arms to defend their crops against government eradicators. The...
View ArticleChronicle AM -- March 7, 2014
Oregon's medical marijuana dispensary regulation bill has passed the legislature with only temporary local bans allowed, more CBD medical marijuana bills are moving, an Indiana hemp bill has passed the...
View ArticleChronicle AM -- March 28, 2014
Medical marijuana and CBD bills continue moving in state legislatures, Northeastern governors respond to opiates, the Department of Agriculture wants to buy Ukrainian hemp seed, and more. Let's get to...
View Article