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Newsbrief:
Bolivian
Government
Shifts
Away
from
"Zero
Coca"
12/12/03
Two members of the government
of Bolivian President Carlos Mesa signaled this week that his administration
would shift the emphasis of its anti-drug policy from forced eradication
of "excess" coca to efforts to block the arrival of precursor chemicals
into the country and finished cocaine out. The Mesa government is
under severe political pressure from coca growers, led by Movement Toward
Socialism head Evo Morales, to end its US-backed eradication policies.
"Zero coca isn't an objective that will be achieved because taking into
account that coca is a legal traditional crop within the country, it is
a scheme that cannot be accomplished," said Minister of Agriculture and
Peasant Affairs Diego Montenegro.
"What we are talking about
now is to achieve a greater intensity in interdiction actions and above
all, an energetic position against the chemicals that are used to make
the drug," Minister of Government Alfonso Ferrufino added to the Bolivian
newspaper Los Tiempos. "Our anti-drug plan will do a study of the
legal destination of coca, of the final use of the crop, which will give
us a policy instrument, because when the number of allowed hectares was
defined in Law 1008, they used certain elements to define the allowable
quantity, but all of that happened 15 years ago," Ferrufino explained.
That study would include
satellite monitoring of the crop, the ministers added. The broader
anti-drug strategy would also make "structural adjustments" in existing
alternative development programs and attempt to give renewed emphasis to
prevention and rehabilitation efforts, they said.
US Ambassador David Greenlee,
for his part, told Los Tiempos that there is more illegal coca growing
in Bolivia (16,000 hectares) than there is legal (12,000 hectares).
The US government would continue to back the Mesa government, Greenlee
said, as long as it remained firm in the unalterable struggle against the
drug traffic.
-- END --
|
Issue #315, 12/12/03
Editorial: Steve Kubby IS a Refugee |
Canada Denies Refugee Status to US Medical Marijuana Exile |
Fallout Continues in Goose Creek, South Carolina, High School Drug Raid |
DRCNet Interview: Darrell Rogers, Acting Executive Director, Students for Sensible Drug Policy |
DRCNet Book Review: "A Drug War Carol," by Susan Wells and Scott Bieser (Big Head Press, $5.95) |
Newsbrief: Bush Campaign Letter Attacks Drug Reform Funders |
Newsbrief: Thai Government to Investigate Itself over Drug War Killings |
Newsbrief: Bolivian Government Shifts Away from "Zero Coca" |
Newsbrief: New Canadian Prime Minister to Revive Marijuana Decriminalization Bill |
Newsbrief: Jamaican Solicitor General Warns Ganja Decrim Could Violate International Treaties, Invite US Retaliation |
Newsbrief: Australian Prime Minister Says Injection Room Violates Treaties, UN Says No It Doesn't |
Newsbrief: Medical Marijuana Approved by German Court |
Newsbrief: West Virginia Supreme Court Grants Private Employers Greater Pre-Employment Drug Test Rights |
Newsbrief: NYC Cigarette Tax Hike Leads to Black Market Violence |
Newsbrief: Cop Kills Cop in Methamphetamine Raid Gone Awry |
DRCNet Temporarily Suspending Our Web-Based Write-to-Congress Service Due to Funding Shortfalls -- Your Help Can Bring It Back -- Keep Contacting Congress in the Meantime |
Perry Fund Accepting Applications for 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 School Years, Providing Scholarships for Students Losing Aid Because of Drug Convictions |
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