IDPC Advocacy Note - Bolivia's legal reconciliation with the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs

On 29 June 2011, Bolivia withdrew from the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, indicating its intention to re-accede with a reservation on coca leaf chewing. The decision comes six months after the rejection of Bolivia’s proposal to remove the ban on coca leaf chewing from the Convention.

IDPC fully supports Bolivia’s decision as the most proportionate and legally appropriate response to re-balance its obligations under the international drug control treaties and its constitutional commitments to protect the cultural and indigenous rights of its people.

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has condemned Bolivia’s latest move and urges the international community to follow suit. IDPC strongly disagrees with this unhelpfully harsh and threatening tone and calls on the international community to abstain from any objections that could prevent Bolivia's re-accession to the Single Convention next year.

Member states should find a way to support Bolivia and move away from a rigid defence of every word of the 50-year old Single Convention, to create a drug control framework that is fit for purpose for the 21st Century.

For more information, visit TNI's blog: "Treaty guardians in distress".