Overview
- The WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence meets Oct. 20–22 in Geneva to finalize a recommendation to the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs on the coca leaf’s international status.
- Coca leaf remains in Schedule I of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, a classification critics link to outdated assessments and historical bias.
- A Policy Forum in Science led by Harvard’s Dawson M. White argues that scientific evidence distinguishes whole-leaf coca from purified cocaine and supports removing the leaf from control lists.
- The WHO’s 2025 critical review concludes traditional coca uses do not present significant public-health risks and details harms tied to prohibition and constraints on research.
- Bolivia and Colombia have petitioned the WHO, supported by a coordinated pronunciamiento from coca producer and consumer communities urging recognition of coca’s cultural and medicinal value and a shift in international controls.