A Historic Opportunity: Why the WHO Review of the coca leaf matters on the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

Ali Margeaux Pfenninger

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A Historic Opportunity: Why the WHO Review of the coca leaf matters on the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

7 August 2025

As we mark the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, we must reflect on how international drug control has historically marginalised and harmed Indigenous communities, and why the current review of the coca leaf by the World Health Organisation (WHO) represents a long-overdue opportunity to redress a historic injustice.

Aymara yatiri (shaman) performing a coca leaf reading on the summit of Mt. Uchumachi near Coroico, Bolivia on the winter solstice or Aymara New Year. Credit: Ali Margeaux Pfenninger

The inclusion of the coca leaf in the 1961 Single Convention that aimed to prohibit its cultivation and traditional use was based on flawed, racially biased studies that ignored its cultural, nutritional, and medicinal significance for Indigenous Peoples across the Andean and Amazonian region. The global prohibition of a sacred plant like coca violates a host of international human rights obligations, in particular Indigenous Peoples' rights to cultural identity, traditional medicine, and self-determination.

For decades, Indigenous leaders, communities, and their allies have called for this historical injustice to be rectified. Now, after more than sixty years, the WHO’s Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) is conducting a scientific and evidence-based review of the coca leaf. This process, initiated after a formal request from the Government of Bolivia and since supported by Colombia, has the potential to correct the unjust scheduling of coca and distinguish between the traditional uses of the leaf and the harms associated with its processed alkaloid—cocaine.

Bolivian Vice President David Choquehuanca Céspedes speaking about the coca leaf critical review at the CND. Credit: UN Web TV

This is not just a regular scheduling review process – it represents a vital test for the international drug control regime. Given the deeply problematic, racist and colonial underpinnings of the regime – most starkly represented by the unjust prohibition of the coca leaf – can historical errors such as the unjust scheduling of the coca leaf now be corrected? Can the WHO take the opportunity to right this wrong – in which they played a large part? Will the global community finally take Indigenous People’s rights seriously, as well as uphold the scientific evidence with regard to coca’s benefits and harms? Or will it cling to outdated narratives that have perpetuated stigma and harm?

De-scheduling is not only a legal correction, but also and foremost a human rights imperative. It would affirm the principles enshrined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, enabling Indigenous communities to use, cultivate and trade their traditional plants (which include coca) without criminalisation or stigma.

It would also serve broader development goals and contribute to protecting the environment. Forced eradication campaigns, as well as unauthorised coca plants and cocaine production have devastated ecosystems, displaced communities, and exacerbated violence and poverty, often with severe impacts for Indigenous People’s sovereignty, lands, livelihoods and traditional practices. A regulated coca economy could instead promote sustainable development, enhance community resilience, and improve trust in State policies and institutions – so long as measures are established to protect the plants from corporate capture, ensuring that the cultivation of coca, the lands on which the plant is cultivated, and the ancestral practices of Indigenous Peoples are recognised as a cultural heritage. Several international mechanisms already exist in this regard, including protective mechanisms from UNESCO, the Nagoya Protocol of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge. As the critical review of the coca leaf is progressing, civil society groups and Indigenous communities are already taking steps both nationally and internationally in this direction.

However, as the review gets underway, traditional prohibitionist ideology continues to muddy the waters of the debate, as some governments have already started expressing concerns over the possible de-scheduling of the plant — particularly regarding what obligations would remain around illegal cultivation, and whether de-scheduling might unintentionally bolster the cocaine market.

Fears that coca de-scheduling could result in a surge in global cocaine availability are unfounded. Cocaine production is a complex, multi-stage process requiring significant volumes of coca leaf, chemical reagents, and technical knowledge. According to UNODC estimates, around one metric tonne of fresh coca leaves would be needed to produce just 1.45 kg of 80% pure cocaine. De-scheduling would only affect the coca leaf in its natural form, not the refined substance of cocaine — which remains scheduled and prohibited. Governments would still be required to criminalise coca cultivation that is intended for cocaine production, but control and license coca leaf grown for traditional or industrial purposes. Eventually, however, considering the devastating harms of prohibition and calls for responsible regulation by both OHCHR and the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, there will come a time where a broader conversation should be had about the need for a complete rethink of the prohibition paradigm for all substances, including cocaine.

In addition, it should be noted that bringing the coca leaf into a legal, regulated economy could reduce illegal cultivation by offering growers alternative livelihoods. By formalising markets for traditional, medicinal, and industrial coca products, states could create economic incentives within the legal economy and away from criminal networks. A legal market also allows for stricter oversight and better protection of Indigenous territories from unauthorised coca expansion.

The WHO critical review offers a rare opportunity to align international drug policy with the UN human rights commitments. Removing the coca leaf from the international drug control treaties is a long-overdue correction that honours Indigenous traditions, supports rural development, and challenges outdated racist and colonial narratives that continue to plague global drug policy.

It is time for the international community to protect the coca leaf as the cultural and medicinal resource that it is.

For more information, read our advocacy note available here in English and Spanish.

Date9 August 2025

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