Rights of Indigenous peoples

News12 February 2026

‘Coca leaf is life itself’: Andean growers’ hopes fade as WHO upholds global curb

The WHO has upheld the coca leaf’s severe international scheduling, maintaining restrictions despite evidence of its safety and longstanding Indigenous use.

Blog20 January 2026

What to expect from 2026: Defending drug policy reform through dark times

As drug policy reform faces renewed repression and securitisation worldwide, 2026 will test whether evidence, human rights and community leadership can still reshape a system under strain — and where the next openings for change may emerge.

News15 January 2026

The WHO says coca leaf isn’t very harmful—so why keep it on the hard drug list?

Despite its medicinal and cultural value, the coca leaf will remain a Schedule I drug, continuing the colonial legacy of prohibition.

Publications11 December 2025

Policing and access to harm reduction services among young people who use drugs and young Indigenous people who use drugs before and after the pilot implementation of decriminalization of personal possession

McAdam et al. examine how decriminalisation reduced policing-related barriers to services, revealing important benefits for young people, including Indigenous.

News11 December 2025

WHO rejects request from Bolivia and Colombia to remove the coca leaf from list of most-persecuted substances

By recommending that coca remain in the most restrictive category, the WHO has reinforced a decades-old, colonial classification that undermines scientific research and Indigenous rights.

News8 December 2025

A critical failure of a system still mired in the past - IDPC joint statement at the CND Reconvened 68th Session

By ignoring Indigenous knowledge and human rights impacts, the coca leaf review reveals a system unable —or unwilling— to shed colonial bias.

Press Releases2 December 2025

WHO upholds coca leaf ban, defying evidence and ignoring Indigenous rights

Despite clear evidence and contravening Indigenous rights, WHO recommends the harshest scheduling for the coca leaf, upholding racist and colonial underpinnings of its ban.

Events

Rethinking coca: Indigenous knowledge, science, and international drug policy

Vienna, Austria

3 December 2025

Join researchers, policymakers and Andean community voices at CEU Vienna to explore coca’s cultural, scientific and political dimensions — and what the WHO’s review means for global drug governance.

Publications15 October 2025

Scientific distinctions between coca and cocaine support policy reform

White et al. argue that scientific, cultural and legal evidence clearly distinguishes coca from cocaine — and that global drug policy must correct this long-standing misclassification rooted in colonial bias.

News15 October 2025

Descheduling the coca leaf is overdue justice - IDPC statement to the 48th meeting of WHO's ECDD

IDPC urged experts to end a colonial injustice, calling for the coca leaf to be descheduled and Indigenous traditions and rights fully recognised.

Publications14 October 2025

Statement by traditional coca leaf producers and consumers to the World Health Organization

Traditional coca leaf producers and consumers from Peru reject their government’s stance before the WHO, urging the organisation to deschedule coca, recognise its cultural and medicinal uses, and support research and rights-based policies

News14 October 2025

Coca isn’t just for cocaine, Bolivia wants the world to know

Bolivia's campaign to remove the coca leaf from the list of the world’s most dangerous drugs highlights the plant's cultural, medicinal and economic importance — and its potential to reshape global drug policy.

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