Coca Leaf Defended by Growers, Scientists… and Taxi Drivers

Bernarda Claure
Inter Press Service (IPS)
March 24 , 2008

"They will have to kill us to make us stop planting coca," Bolivian coca grower Luis Mamani told IPS in response to a call from the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) to prohibit traditional uses of the plant like coca leaf chewing. "It is a historic error to try to ban coca. We are not going to allow it," Mamani vehemently stated.