Vice President David Choquehuanca declared that “we are beginning to reveal the truth about the coca leaf, we must expose the lies, false information and the post-truth that entails misinformation about the coca leaf in the world.” He also reported that the Bolivian government began to work with the urgent need to review and update the regulations of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.

Choquehuanca described that in light of current scientific evidence, Bolivia took the initiative to activate a process to request a re-evaluation of the coca leaf as a narcotic in the current classification based on a critical examination by the World Health Organization (WHO).

He added that the coca leaf, which is considered sacred by the Bolivian indigenous people, is not toxic, it is not a narcotic, on the contrary, it means health, medicine and nutrition.

Sources from the Bolivian Vice Presidency confirmed that the WHO began procedures in November for the critical review of the classification of the coca leaf in List One of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs. They specified that the information was provided by WHO general director, Tedros Adhanom to Choquehuanca at a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.

The General Secretary of the Vice Presidency of Bolivia, Juan Carlos Alurralde, said that Adhanom officially announced that procedures were initiated with a critical review of the classification of the coca leaf, on Number one List of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 after the WHO received the notification sent by the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres.

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