Government Agencies Involved with Coca

• Government of Bolivia - Vice Ministry of Coca Development

  Results of Bolivian government study on consumption demand of coca - (2013, PDF)
  Bolivia Law 1008 of July 1998: Regime applicable to coca and controlled substances
  Ley No. 906 - Ley General de la Coca, 09 de marzo de 2017 - Bolivia

• Government of Bolivia - Coca Industrialization Agency (DIGCOIN)
  - division of Vice Ministry of Coca, controls circulation, transport and commercialization of coca leaf
• Government of Bolivia - National Fund for Alternative Development - (FONDAL)
  - European Union funded project for agricultural innovation, including developing new coca products
• Government of Colombia - Nov. 2020 letter from Commerce Department to Ministry of Health
  - advocating for exports of dry flowers of the cannabis plant
• Government of Peru - Empresa Nacional de la Coca (ENACO)
  - government corporation that buys coca from farmers and resells to producers of coca products
• Government of Peru - Article 299 of Penal Code
  - it is not illegal to possess just one of the following: eight grams of marijuana, five grams of coca paste, two grams of cocaine, or one gram of opium - (Penal Code)
• Government of Peru - National Drug Commission (DEVIDA) - Alternative Development Program
• Government of Chile - National Council for Drug Control (CONACE)
• Government of Argentina - Article 15 of Law 23737 of 1989
  - "The possession and consumption of coca leaf in its natural state, for the practice of chewing, or for use as an infusion, will not be considered as drug possession or consumption."
• CELAC - Special Declaration About Coca Leaf Approved by Celac
  Celac: Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, 29 January 2014
• Organization of American States - Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD)
  - one goal is to "Develop alternate sources of income for growers of coca"

  OAS report (2013) - "The Drug Problem in the Americas" - advocates legal regional coca leaf market and legalizing marijuana

• Government of Portugal - Law 30/2000 - decriminalization of drug possession
  - possession of no more than 10 daily doses of drugs (40 coca tea bags?) is an administrative offense, typically handled by rehabilitation
• United Kingdom - UK Parliament All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Drug Policy Reform
  - in October 2013, recommends to UK Parliament that coca leaf use should be legal in the United Kingdom

  U.K. APPG report - "Coca leaf: a political dilemma?"

• United Kingdom - London School of Economics Expert Group on Drug Policy
  - in May 2014, publishes report "Ending the Drug Wars" endorsed by five winners of Noble Prize in Economics
• Government of New Zealand - Psychoactive Substances Bill (PSB)
  - on 17 July 2013, New Zealand enacted the PSB, which legalizes and regulates production and sales of new synthetic, non-scheduled, narcotic drugs (suggesting idea of a coca-leaf with synthetic alkaloids)
• United Nations - World Health Organization (WHO)
  - in a July 2014 report, WHO calls for the decriminalization of drug use
• United Nations - Office on Drugs - Alternative Development Program

  Report on monitoring of cultivation of coca circa 2012 in Bolivia (2013) - UNODC
  A modest proposal to clarify the status of coca in the United Nations conventions (2004) - Francisco Thoumi, Bogota
  Possibilities of crop substitution for the coca bush in Bolivia (1965) - UNODC report
  U.N. Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961) - coca leaf regulated under Schedule III
  U.N. Commission of Enquiry on the Coca Leaf (1949) - a scientifically flawed, racist U.N. study on coca, used to justify banning coca leaf use in 1961 treaty

• United Nations - World Health Organization - Substance Abuse Office

  U.N. WHO (1995) - report stating use of coca leaves has no negative health effects suppressed at the request of the U.S.; also discussed by:

  U.N. WHO (1995) - report stating use of coca leaves has no negative health effects suppressed at the request of the U.S.

  U.N. WHO (2006) - Contribution of traditional medicine to public health: coca leaf

• European Union - Justice Secretariat - Drug Control Policy division

  European Union - Drug Control Policy agencies

  European Food Safety Authority - issued October 2013 report on tropanes (which include coca alkaloids) in foods, but did not include coca in study

  European Medicines Agency - Herbal Medicines for Human Use - refuses to recognize genus Erythroxylum (the coca leaf)

• Government of Spain - National Drug Plan
  - no plans for alternative development, no recognition of its historical role in promoting coca use
• U.S. Agency for International Development - 1985 report/conference
  - "Coca and Cocaine - effects on people and policy in Latin America"
• U.S. Department of State - Bureau of International Narcotics
  - 2016 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report
• U.S. Department of State - Bureau of International Narcotics
  - State Department official calls for 'flexibility' on drug control treaties (Oct. 2014)
• U.S. Department of Justice - Drug Enforcement Agency

  "Crop Substitution [for Coca] in the Andes" (1993)

  USDoJ guidance regarding preventing criminal exploitation of legal marijuana businesses (Feb. 2014)

  Treasury Dept. - Bank Secrecy Act rules for banks to do business with marijuana-related businesses (Feb. 2014)

  21 United States Code - Controlled Substances Act

• U.S. General Accounting Office
  - multiple studies on economic effects of U.S. government coca activities
• Health Canada - Office of Drug Strategy
  - would control any coca-based products entering Canada, but has no program seeking such alternative uses (only for marijuana and hemp)

Click here for      Timetable of History of Coca.

Researchers, Supporters, and Institutes Studying Coca

RESEARCHERS

• Alejandro Camino, Director, Museum of Sacred Plants, Cusco, Peru
• Franklin Davis, Chemistry professor, Temple University (Philadelphia), studying ways to produce non-addictive coca alkloids
• Thomas Grisaffi, London School of Economics - researches Bolivian coca growing culture
• Martin Jelsma, Drugs & Democracy Program, TransNational Institute (TNI), Amsterdam

  TNI's Drug Law Reform in Latin America

• Dr. Luis Llosa, doctor in New York City - researches how to use coca leaf extracts such as coca tea to treat cocaine dependence
• Dr. Andrew Weil, Director, Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, Tucson

SUPPORTERS

• Leo Arreguin, partner at NorSur Consulting - Arreguin was former DEA director in Colombia, now offering consulting services, including to those involved with alternative uses of coca
• Fernando Belauzaran, not an advocate of coca leaf, but leading efforts in Mexico's Congress to equally regulate marijuana and alcohol
• Carlos Gustavo Cano, Minister of Agriculture, Colombia, 2002-2005, author of: Reinventing Alternative Development (2002)
• CEDD - Research Consortium on Drugs and the Law, a group of researchers from eight countries across the Americas
• Drugs Forum - online discussion group for all things coca
• Milton Flores, leading advocate in Chile for legalizing marijuana and other historically used drug plants
• Friends of the Coca Leaf - (Belgium) - EU group promoting coca leaf use
• Ollanta Humala, President of Peru (2011-), at least circa 2006, supported coca industrialization
• Roberto Laserna, economist at the Fundación Milenio in La Paz. In 2011, published a book, "The failure of prohibition". FM's reports regularly discuss coca.
• Mama Coca - (France) - human rights group advocating legal coca use
• Ethan Nadelman, founder of Drug Policy Alliance (which advocates for marijuana legalization), who now wants to legalize more drugs, which could include opening the door to coca leaf use
• David Nutt, UK doctor studying beneficial uses of controlled substances such as marijuana, could find uses of coca leaf - fired from government in 2009 arguing alcohol and tobacco are more harmful than marijuana
• Alejandro Ordóñez, chief public prosecutor in Colombia, in 2012 called for a referendum to legalize some drug consumption
• Sophia Ostler, U.K. economist, wrote September 2013 report for UK parliament advocating the legalization of coca use
• Sean Penn, Hollywood actor and social activist
• Otto Perez Molina, president of Guatemala - in 2014, proposed not only legalizing marijuana and opium for medical use, but also creating a new agricultural industry growing poppies and marijuana - same arguments apply to coca leaf
• Sven Pfeiffer, legal adviser, UNODC, wrote 2013 article: Rights of indigenous peoples and the international drug control regime: the case of traditional coca leaf chewing
• Juan Manuel Santos, president, Colombia - in 2014, stated that war on drugs is a failure, that marijuana should be legalized, and is considering FARC's request to industrialize coca leaf
• Federico Tovoli, Italian photographer living in Lima with excellent series of photographs of coca leaves from cultivation, thru harvesting, preparation, market sales, and use in Bolivia
• John Walsh, Senior Associate for Drug Policy and the Andes, Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)

INSTITUTES

• ADEPCOCA - (La Paz) - Bolivian association of coca leaf growers of La Paz region
• APPROCOCA - (Cochabamba) - Bolivia association of coca leaf growers of Caranavi region
• FECOCO - Federation of coca leaf growers of Coripata (Bolivia)
• APEHCOCA - (Lima) - Peruvian association of coca leaf growers
• CONPACCP - (Lima) - Peruvian association of coca leaf growers
• Coca Museum - (La Paz) - sponsored by International Coca Research Institute of Bolivia
• DrugScience - (London) - Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs
• European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies (ENCOD) - (Belgium) - promotes legalization of coca leaf use in Europe
• Fundación Razón Pública - (Bogota) - research institute, one section seeks alternative to failed war on drugs
• Global Commission on Drug Policy - (Brazil) - in September 2014, GCDP proposed global decriminalization of less harmful illegal drugs. Members of the Commission include: former U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan, former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardozo, former Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo, and former U.S. secretary of state George Schultz
• Instituto Boliviano de Biologia de Altura - (La Paz) - in 1990s, did studies on the biologic responses to coca chewing
• Instituto de Investigacion Nutricional - (Lima) - published one paper in 2009, a naive rejection of coca leaf as a food or medicine
• Kew Botanical Gardens - (London) - investigates Malpighiales order of plants, which includes Erythroxlyum coca
• Law Enforcement Against Prohibition - LEAP - (US) - American association of former law enforcement officers who support legalization of drugs such as marijuana
• National Bureau of Economic Research - (US) - economics research group that occasionally reports on drugs such as coca
• Sapan Inka Project - (Cusco) - promotes use of medicinal plants, including coca

Coca Tea, Beverage and Other Products

Click here for a map: Pacific Alliance, ALBA and Mercosur countries, initial markets for coca products.

Bolivia

• Agroindustrias Ecocaranavi, Cochabamba, manufacturers of coca tea (note: web site no longer exists, contact ecocaranavi@gmail.com)
• Bolivian Spirits, manufacturers of coca liquors and brandies
• CartonBol - Cartones de Bolivia, manufacturers of cardboard boxes, maybe using coca plant fibre
• Coca Wasi, Coroico, coca plantation opened to tourists
• Ebococa, Cochabamba (ebococa@hotmail.com), manufacturers of coca products: liquor, tea, cheese, soda, skin cream, puddings
• IngaCoca, manufacturers of coca herbal tonics, creams, shampoos
• INPROAL, La Paz (inproal@gmail.com), manufacturers of Lupi brand of coca teas
• La Coca Restuarant, La Paz (Calle R. Gutierrez 482), menu includes pastas and pizzas made with coca flour, and coca ice cream
• Windsor, La Paz, division of Hansa Ltda., manufacturers teas, including a line of coca teas

Peru

• Amadeus Corp, Callao, manufactures Vortex Coca Energy drink
• Cervecería Peruana - Andahuaylas - manufactures Cerveza De Coca beer
• Coca Loca Company, Lima (Miraflores), manufactures a variety of products that use coca, many traditional foods with some added coca. (their second blog, more on policy)
• Coca Médica - Lima - medical group using coca leaf extracts to treat cocaine dependence
• CocaNatural - Lima - sells a variety of coca products:
  Dark Chocolate Bar Cocoa 62% with coca leaves (sold in 1988)
  Dark Chocolate Bar Cocoa 62% with coca leaves (sold in 2028)
  
• Delisse Coca Tea - Web site sponsored by NutriPeru (see below)
• Herbi Coca Teas, one of the best coca teas, one of the most idiotic Web sites
• Home Power S.A., Lima, manufacturers of Andante Coca wine
• Inka Natural, Lima, distributors of coca, maza, stevia and other natural products of the region
• Keshua, Lima, manufactures food nutraceuticals based on achote, coca and maca
• K-Drink, Lima, sells Kdrink refreshing beverage using decocainized coca leaf
• Laboratorio Natural Pluss, Lima, manufactures hoja de coca capsules, though not mentioned on blog
• Mana Integral, Lima, manufactures food products using coca,including cereals, cookies, bread
• My Coca Products, Huanuco, sells Delisse's coca powder, flour and teas
• Nutri Peru, Quillabamba, owned by XportPeru S.A., distributors and exporters of a variety of coca products
• Peru Herbals, Lima, distributor of coca tea, and other herbals
• Peru Tea, Cusco, distributors of coca tea, candies, powder, liquors
• Wawasana, Lima, green tea and coca

Latin America

• Coca De Venezuela, Venezuela (Caracas), manufacturer of Triple 3X Coca Tea
• Coca Nasa, Colombia (Bogota), manufacturer of coca beverages and creams
• Coca Tea Company, Venezuela, importers, nice blog
• Coca Zagradha, Colombia, manufacturers of tea, flours, herbal tonics

United States and Canada

• Andean Brewing Company, New York, manufacturers of Kuka coca leaf tea beverage
• Bouncing Bear Botanicals, Kansas, importers of coca-free coca teas
• Buy-Tea-Bags.com, New York, sells individual boxes of coca tea and leaves
• Hidalgo Foods, Seattle, importers of coca-free coca teas, and quinoa
• Kuka Drinks, San Diego, manufactures(?) carbonated coca leaf beverage
• MB Innovations's MaCoca, Florida, manufactures decocainized coca leaf extract drink for weight loss
• NovoAndina, Boston, importers of coca-free coca teas and powders
• The Stepan Company, New Jersey - legally imports coca leaf into the United States, removing the cocaine from the leaves, selling the cocaine to pharmaceutical companies, and selling the cocaine-free leaves to soda companies such as Coca Cola. Stepan's license to do this is annually reviewed by the U.S. DEA
• Tryptamind, Canada, sells coca tea to Canadian customers

Europe

• Coca House, France, importers of coca leaf for pharmaceutical industry, also has a web site - Pemtrack
• Frenet Branca, Italy, produces herbal liquor - rumored to have a bit of coca leaf
• New World Products, Ireland, manufactures Kaptive coca leaf and green tea drink