Growing Tolerance for Bolivian Coca

Times are changing for Bolivia's coca growers. A push from the country's two major coca producers' federations to raise the limit for legal cultivation nationwide from 12,000 to 20,000 hectares has received little press outside the country. As it is, planters flout the limit, growing far more coca than is permitted, often for cocaine production. The proposed amendment to Bolivia's coca production law would mean some of what is currently considered illegal overproduction would no longer be illegal, and with less illegal coca to eradicate, government efforts to destroy excess coca in Bolivia would likely fall off. Some coca grown for cocaine production would no longer be eradicated, and producers may grow even more coca if they feel as though they are safe from eradication programs. Even so, the proposal did not elicit a significant political reaction from the United States, a leading force in South America's war on drugs. Washington's...