In
Bolivia, coca, its cultivation, use, transportation, commercialization and exportation have been regulated under the Regime
Applicable to Coca and Controlled Substances, the draconian Law
1008, which took effect in 1988. This law has been at the bottom of the marches and protests
of the coca farmers organizations.
|
|
|
|
Grower of 'excess' plants |
|
|
The law states that "legal consumption and use of the coca leaf are understood to mean the social and cultural practices of the Bolivian people in traditional forms, such as acullicu and chewing and medicinal and ritual uses". The production of coca leaf that covers this legal demand is defined as ‘necessary' production . That which exceeds such needs is defined as 'excess' production.
The 'necessary' traditional production zone includes “the small-farm coca production areas currently existing in the subtropical parts of the of the provinces of North and South Yungas, Murillo, Muñecas, Franz Tamayo and Inquisivi in the Departament of La Paz, and the Yungas of Vandiola, which includes parts of the provinces of Tiraque and Carrasco in the Cochabamba department".
The excess production zone is that in which coca cultivation is the result of a process of spontaneous or directed settlement, which supported the expansion of excess cultivation accompanying the growth of demand for illicit uses. This zone is the subject of annual plans for reduction, substitution and development, through the implementation of a Comprehensive Development and Substitution Program; beginning with an annual reduction of 5.000 hectares and moving towards a target of 8.000 hectares annually.
The achievement of these targets will depend on the availability of national budget resources, as well as on sufficient commitments and payments from bilateral and multilateral technical and financial co-operation, which will have to be directed towards alternative development.
This zone includes the provinces of Saavedra, Larecaja and Loayza, the settlement areas of the Yungas in the La Paz department, and the provinces of Chapare, Carrasco, Tiraque and Arani in the Cochabamba department.
The law establishes moreover that a legal small producer of coca is a farmer in the necessary and excess zones who works his own plot of land, and personally produces from it for his own subsistence and one of whose principal characteristics is that he obtains his income chiefly from coca-growing. Coca cultivation is prohibited on land subject to a rental contract or to any other contract of lease or use.
For complete text go to http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/legal_library/bo/legal_library_1989-10-20_1988-25.html
|
