Colombia Publishes Draft Regulations on the Use of Poppy and Coca for Medical Purposes
Coca plants in rural Colombia, 2024. X/ @PrensaLaNacion
November 1, 2024 Hour: 12:10 pm
The proposal seeks to regulate these uses of poppy and coca under an approach focused on the transition to legal economies.
On Friday, the Colombian Justice Ministry published the draft of a decree by which President Gustavo Petro’s administration will authorize public entities to use poppy and coca for medical, scientific, and industrial purposes.
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This draft was published to allow citizens and interested institutions to participate “with their comments and observations in the regulatory development process of the draft decree.”
In this context, the proposal seeks to regulate these uses of poppy and coca under an approach focused on “human rights, social justice, and promotion of the transition to legal economies.”
For instance, the decree will allow the Ministries of Justice, Agriculture, and Science “to collect samples of plant material and existing products obtained from the poppy and coca plants for proper analysis and characterization.”
Additionally, institutions wishing to adopt the decree will need to request authorization from the National Narcotics Council (CNE). “For public entities to conduct activities involving the use of seeds, plant cultivation, or use of pre-existing plantations, they must submit the respective projects specifying clearly the scope or purpose pursued,” the document states.
Based on this, the CNE may authorize these entities to possess seeds and crops or to utilize already existing plantations.
In October, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported that coca crops reached 253,000 hectares in 2023, an increase of 23,000 hectares compared to 2022, while cocaine production rose by 53 percent during the same period. Currently, the departments of Norte de Santander, Nariño, Cauca, and Putumayo have coca plantations exceeding 30,000 hectares.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE