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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 1979)
Bolivian ‘coke’ poses problem Start off on the right Soot! >aid C(lh a Staten Editor’s note: Clifford Cheney, anaging editor of the Logan erald Journal and former UPI reporter, recently spent a month in Bolivia on a journalism exchange and wrote the following tterhead stati 0tl |®S ram article. gret the ne«,, By CLIFFORD CHENEY \ve See no altee ' United Press International iat all women®HULUMANI, Bolivia — The will refuse tnU'aced hillside rising behind the isory committ ? at >o was Bright green with this sea- nent with thi ion s crop of coca leaves, the mate criticism iource of cocaine for the illicit drug market in the United States, appointed tli T ur Bost, a LaPaz banker, took a <o to continue 'P Bom his glass and nodded to- tmvemmpni val 'd the crop growing next door to Womens S , “2f atk,n , , ; The catnpesinos have been rais- qiuckly intocH coca here since long before mceling its first■ me 1 was ever h r eard °f’ he said ‘ ■ . I i: | , v It has been one ot their basic crops 111 ince before the time of Christ. To iisc lie had » » • • i*1 c r lominntcs hem >„ lt s J USt hke a cr °P ° f t() - eting that prejlpj 0 ' , > f . > i . ‘ , The day berore, m the newsroom L \ . i . i " f one of La Paz’s daily newspapers, " I u ^ ,ir mii v i an editor took a puff on his mid hurt thei: ig I eMe then held it up and to i d where non-developmental objectves play a significant part in our AID (Agency for Intenational Develop ment) programs in Bolivia, said U.S. Ambassador Paul H. Boeker. Perhaps half of the coca leaves grown in Bolivia — in the Yungas region around Chulumani and the Chapari region near Cochabamba — go into the illegal drug market. First the leaf is ground into a roads into that previously unculti vated area. “We think the domestic demand for coca, the legitimate market de mand for chewing and tea, is about half the supply that is presently being grown,” said Howard Steele, a Department of Agriculture economist assigned to the U.S. Em bassy. Steele’s job is to provide the cam- ie, “This is worse for than pastelike “base,” which is then re fined into cocaine hydrochloride. Much of the refining and most of the international distribution takes place in Colombia. Coca production has been in- creasihg in Bolivia in the past few years, primarily as a result of an ex panding illegal market in the United States and Europe. One irony of American foreign aid to Bolivia is that the biggest expansion of coca acreage occurred in the Chapari after the United States financed new pesinos with substitute crops and give them an economically viable al ternative to growing coca for the il licit market. Financed by U.S. foreign aid payments, the project is one half of a double-edged effort to fight, at its source, the traffic of cocaine to the United States. The other half is a Bolivian law enforcement campaign involving narcotics officers from the U.S. State and Justice departments. “There was not any narcotics law enforcement of any kind done in this country until this program was started,” said Lopez, a former California policeman. “The Boli vians still lack the records, training and laws to do an adequate job.” I visited the headquarters of Bolivia’s newly organized National Division for Control of Dangerous Substances. There I saw the begin ning of Phase 2 of the U.S.-financed Narcotics Control Program — regis tration of coca vendors in the La Paz area. Most of the vendors were Aymara and Quechua Indians, dressed in simple native clothing — the men and women standing in line to fill out forms and have their photo graphs taken. In coming weeks, vendors in the rural areas of the country were to be registered. Eventually, there would be fines or imprisonment for those who sold coca leaves without a license. It doesn’t make much sense to the campesinos, but to Lopez and the other U.S. officials working on the coca problem in Bolivia, vendor reg istration is another barrier to stop the northward flow of illegal cocaine. Other barriers include coca taxa tion, new Bolivian narcotics laws, customs checkpoints on roads, sta tioning of narcotics agents around the country, and registration of coca growers which was Phase 1 of the program. Registration of growers began last year. Lopez said almost 14,000 growers, an estimated 70 percent of the total, now are registered with the Bolivian government. Eventually, according to the plan, the cultivation of coca will be re stricted to the amount needed to meet legal market demands, he said. Cocaine, a stimulant, once was an ingredient in patent medicines (in cluding the original Coca-Cola for mula) and used for treatment of ner vous conditions and as a local anesthetic. But there is virtually no legal market for cocaine today be cause newer, safer drugs have made it obsolete. “If s never been illegal to grow coca; these people aren’t doing any thing wrong,” Lopez said. “If we re going to tell them not to grow coca, we re going to have to offer them some viable alternatives.” Citrus fruits, coffee, tea and cacao are the most promising alternatives being studied, Steele said. But the problem won’t be solved by simply providing the campesinos with seeds and instructions and telling them to change crops. The campesino can make five times as much off a crop of coca leaves as he could make by planting the same acreage in sugar, beans or other traditional crops. By asking any upperclassman why it's smart to trade at Loupot's Bookstore! You'll hear: 'They carry a lull iine of New & USED BOOKS. *if I change courses, Loupot's will Refund my money up to a week after the semester starts. "Loupot's will buy my books back at the end of the semester. "Loupot's guarantees all their merchandise — no arguments, just good service. "Loupot’s has the latest in calculators at the latest prices (in fact, they have over 20 models to choose from). "All the calculators are personally guaranteed for 90 days plus the year war ranty with the company. If anything goes wrong, Loupot's will replace it over the counter — FREE! (No 2 - 3 week delay!) LOUPOT’S BOOKSTORE North Gate — Across form the Post Office Trade With Lou & SAVE $ $ $ * in ts Oar iosltj 7 Slhi®p 1703 Texas Ave. 20% Culpepper Plaza OFF Towels Select Group Of Placemats & Napkins t. a'V" J*-Ir'Tjfy* % I 't.;dk€ Shower Curtains WELCOME BACK AGGIES 'We are having an enormous sale. Prices are slashed up to 75% on all fall and winter shoes. m about an hoti one Saturday. " "' ltl(m s ro \ f ew da y S later, in the lodge of i;t(>ups ic u ;l ca ]t ava the world’s highest ski saving the con T t at a di2zying 17,000 feet lie enedive, i | )OVe sea l eve l j n tJ le Bolivian - ,nust be ,)uts fles, I sipped on a cup of hot tea (1 Arlie Scott fewed from coca leaves. "Good for be ^ at ' ona * titude sickness,” I was told, n. Obviousfi Indeed, the coca leaf — known in ves women i , e United States only as the source l ‘ ard illegal cocaine — is a routine and position at jtJgral part of the lifestyle of if the adminiiiivja has been in Highly educated people in LaPaz League of W fj n k C oca tea to fight altitude sick- ident Nancy » ss and to aid digestion. The cam- re was no cli . s inos of the bleak Altiplano chew that the ell leaves daily to help them with- inittee had and hunger and cold. The tin min- said Nationa! s Lf Omro chew the leaves be- less and I u<l. they believe the plant pre- resident Piilanijnts lung disease. Coca is widely used as a folk re- edy and pain reliever. The Aym- -Hnulians use coca leaves, as Gyp- ^C’sjnse tea leaves, to tell fortunes dpredict the future, P ] Yet, alongside Bolivia’s traditional | lllHegal market for the coca leaf as herb, there is a booming illegal irket. The biggest purchaser of tr 11 vw ,ca leaf is an international nar- IL i LIT vitics smuggling organization which xluces and sells millions of dollars tiled Press InierniiBolivian cocaine each year in the DSE, Calif, -lited States and Europe, s buying up liOne of the top priorities of the rael, Germany Sj Embassy in La Paz is to work tg it in pots to th Bolivian police and other agen- *ach. s to cut off the flow of cocaine at Europeans are source. <1 States and In “The coca problem is one area COME AND CHECK OUT OUR NEW SPRING ARRIVALS THEY ARE TERRIFIC! gw (Shala’s (Shoes your fashion shoe store 707 TEXAS 696-1148 AND MORE! jest. 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