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Making his point, Bolivian President chews coca at UN meet (Extra)
Mar 11, 2009, 11:28 GMT
Vienna - Bolivian President Evo Morales on Wednesday demonstratively chewed a coca leaf at a United Nations drug conference in Vienna, underscoring his point that the plant should be removed from the international list of narcotic substances.
Speaking to delegates at the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, Morales defended the traditional practice of chewing coca leaves for health reasons.
'It's not a drug, it's a medicine,' the president said, holding up a leaf, which he put into his mouth minutes later.
Morales stressed the difference between the coca leaf and cocaine, which can be produced from it.
While Bolivia would continue to limit coca plant farming, Morales also said that the traditional plant 'represents the culture of peoples in the Andean region,' which has been used for 3,000 years, not only to deal with altitude sickness, but also for diabetes.
Under the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, coca leaf chewing should have been banned by 1989.
The UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs is meeting to discuss policies for tackling the global drug problem in the coming decade.
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