Drug Policy Archive

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing series about national drug policies in various countries around the world. Last month, the Constitutional Court of Colombia upheld restrictions that it imposed in 2017 on the aerial spraying of the herbicide glyphosate to eradicate coca, the base ingredient in cocaine. But the court said aerial spraying could resume if the government meets certain conditions. The decision was a setback for President Ivan Duque’s efforts to restart the program, which was suspended by his predecessor, Juan Manuel Santos, in 2015, due to a finding by the World Health Organization that glyphosate […]

At his inauguration ceremony a year ago, Colombian President Ivan Duque promised a forceful crackdown on drug trafficking, especially cocaine, through “the eradication and substitution of illegal crops.” Under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, he is now pushing to restart aerial spraying of coca plantations using the herbicide glyphosate, which is “probably carcinogenic to humans,” according to the World Health Organization. Meanwhile, in nearby Bolivia, President Evo Morales has taken a different route, expanding legal coca cultivation while relying only on domestic law enforcement agencies to tackle drug trafficking. This coca policy will be one of many issues on […]