An international showdown between the US and Bolivia has officially begun. The matter under dispute: whether or not an international ban on coca-leaf chewing should be pulled from the 1961 United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. In a letter which has now been filed with the United Nations, the United States has made official its opposition to the Bolivia-backed proposal that would end international prohibition of the coca-leaf. US officials say the Bolivian amendment would, in the AP’s words, “weaken the integrity” of a decades old convention. The Guardian says US counternarcotics officials also believe that ending the ban on coca-chewing would “undermine the ‘war on drugs.’” As reported this morning, the US now says it hopes other countries will follow its lead by filing their own objections to the Bolivian proposal.
Filing remains open until January 31. If there had been no formal objections, Bolivia’s amendment would have been approved automatically.
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