Culture - Peru legalizing coca leaves

[anj0vis]

I saw news on todays newspapers that Perus traditional tourist areas around Machu Piccu (correct spelling in english??) has decriminalized the growing and using of coca leaves for personal use. I have no time to translate the whole article right now, so if someone has more about it readily in english, I'd be glad to read.

[glogga]

Peru region makes 'sacred' coca legal
By Tania Mellado, Carlos Tabja
Cuzco, Peru
June 23, 2005

Peruvian farmers hold coca leaves during a ceremony where the Cuzco region declared coca a local treasure.

Peruvian farmers hold coca leaves during a ceremony where the Cuzco region declared coca a local treasure.
Photo: Reuters

Under pressure from Andean peasants, southern Peruvian authorities have declared a local treasure the plant used to make cocaine, a move the Lima government slammed as an attempt to legalise rising production.

The occasion was marked with a colourful rite witnessed by about 2000 coca growers in the town square in Cuzco, ancient capital of the mighty Inca empire that considered coca sacred.

An Andean priest, wearing a condor with outstretched wings tied to his back to symbolise power, blessed coca leaves carried in on the backs of llamas. Offerings of sweets were laid out on a blanket.

Cuzco regional president Carlos Cuaresma said: "I have issued this law, which we are promulgating with great satisfaction in the name of the poorest people in Cuzco, who are biting their nails and in hunger and solitude turn to their hillsides to sow their sacred plant."

The law declared coca part of Peru's "regional heritage" and named three valleys in Cuzco as legal production zones. It has sparked outrage at Peru's state anti-drugs agency, DEVIDA, which has tried to rein in rising production in the world's No. 2 cocaine producer.
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Coca sown in Peru since 2003 is considered illegal, yet a new UN report said coca planting rose 14 per cent in 2004 as a crackdown in the top producer, Colombia, drove crops into Peru.

A small amount of Peru's coca is sold legally to the state coca company, ENACO, for tea and other uses. DEVIDA says the Cuzco region supplies 80 per cent of that legal production.

Coca is also chewed by peasants, a traditional remedy to ward off hunger and altitude sickness. But at least 80 per cent of Peru's production ends up in the hands of drug traffickers.

Cuzco Vice-President Alejandro Uscumayta acknowledged: "We passed the law because of pressure from coca growers. There have been marches and roadblocks . . . it hurts tourism."

DEVIDA chief Nils Ericsson said the Cuzco law could be interpreted as an attempt to legalise 17,000 hectares of coca crops. "This is throwing wood on the fire against a backdrop of agitation by coca growers. I'm very disappointed for our anti-drugs efforts," Mr Ericsson said.

Constitutional experts question whether Cuzco has the right to go it alone on a subject, drugs, that falls under the authority of the national government.

But Mr Cuaresma said he "would not be responsible" for anything that happened if Lima tried to overturn the law.

- Reuters

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[glogga]

As the article indicates, its only legalized at the local level. The Peruvian national government isn't recognizing it.
Edited by: glogga