Peru must support request made by Bolivia to the WHO on the use of coca leaves

Between 1949 and 1952, Peru and Bolivia asked the United Nations (UN) to study the effects of the use of coca leaves. This commission commissioned such an investigation and concluded with a series of prejudices against said plant and Andean culture. According to the general manager and founder of Aurandina, Alfredo Menacho, on June 26, 2023, Bolivia requested the Drug Dependence Committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) for a critical examination of the ruling made in 1952, for which it presented a file with scientific and legal evidence and arguments against the UN decision. “The Peruvian Government must express its favorable position to the action undertaken by Bolivia, and, in addition, accompany said request until its completion. We seek to correct the pronouncement that was given that year and to remove this medicinal and ancestral plant from list one of prohibited substances,” he said. Likewise, Menacho commented on the importance of the Peruvian Foreign Ministry ...