International Journal on Criminology Volume 6, Number 2, Winter 2018/Spring 2019 | Page 8

Coca and Cocaine: Looking Ahead
Chapter 2, Article 3 introduces the idea of localizing and designating towns and
ports (a contentious term for Bolivians today) for the export of coca leaves. However,
no decision is taken to impose any restrictions on the product. 11 In 1931, another
Geneva Convention was set up in order to limit production and control the
distribution of narcotics. Along with the Bangkok Agreement on opium smoking,
1936 saw similar legislation from Geneva for the suppression of illegal trafficking
of those drugs defined as dangerous. Coca leaves are again listed, but no decision
is taken to apply coercive action against trade or production.
The Period after the Second World War
And so to the Lake Success Protocol (1946). This new text amended all previous
agreements, adapting them in line with the new requirements of
the UN, which had just replaced the League of Nations. An international
Commission on Narcotic Drugs was established. After that came the document
known as the Paris Protocol (1948), which addressed a number of loopholes left
by the 1931 text dealing with opium. Coca was forgotten.
In France, in parallel with these developments, the laws of July 13, 1922 and
December 20, 1933 reaffirmed the desire to take action against the trafficking of a
number of substances. To that end, specified police officers were authorized to enter
any suspect private home at any time of day or night. 12 A decree (No.48-1805,
November 19, 1948) subsequently provided details of the regulations to apply to
the importation, trade, possession, and use of toxic substances.
There followed two orders dated December 7, 1948, and another dated November
15, 1951. The second of these provided more detail on the contents of
section 1 of the table of toxic substances. Here, coca leaves did appear on the list
and they were, for the first time in France, considered to be a narcotic substance.
Bolivia and Coca at the Crossroads
In Bolivia, the Society of Landowners of the Yungas, which produces coca
leaves, realized the implications of these international developments straight
away and sounded the alarm. It wrote an article that appeared in the national
daily, La Razón on February 16, 1947. This was backed up the following year by a
23-page brochure lauding the dietary benefits of coca leaves. The fourth session of
the UN’s Commission of Enquiry saw the publication of two information bulletins,
dated August 10, 1948 and July 23, 1949, respectively. 13 Four people consid-
11 The head of the French delegation is none other than Édouard Daladier. It is not widely known that
he is also a member of the Mariani family.
12 Igor Charras, “Genèse et évolution de la législation relative aux stupéfiants sous la Troisième République,”
Déviance et société 22, n°4 (1998).
13 This process began in April 1947 with a call from Carlos Holguin, the Peruvian delegate at the UN,
for an in-depth study to be carried out into coca leaves in Latin America.
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