Article 26

THE COCA BUSH AND COCA LEAVES

1. If a Party permits the cultivation of the coca bush, it shall apply thereto and to coca leaves the system of controls as provided in article 23 respecting the control of the opium poppy, but as regards paragraph 2 (d) of that article, the requirements imposed on the Agency therein referred to shall be only to take physical possession of the crops as soon as possible after the end of the harvest.
2. The Parties shall so far as possible enforce the uprooting of
all coca bushes which grow wild. They shall destroy the coca bushes if illegally cultivated.

Commentary

1. See above, comments on article 23.

2. It may be noted that only those Parties which permit the cultivation of the coca bush 1 must apply to coca leaves 2 the provisions of article 23. All Parties, whether permitting such cultivation or not, must apply to the leaves the provisions of the Convention governing drugs listed in Schedule 1, the coca leaf being such a drug. a

3. Parties which under article 49, paragraph l, reserve temporarily the right to permit coca leaf chewing and the production 4 of, and trade in, coca leaves for chewing must nevertheless apply the provisions of article 26, para graph 1 to the cultivation of the plant and to the trade in the leaves undertaken for this purpose.

4. While article 23 applies only to those Parties which permit the cultivation of the opium poppy for the production of opium, and not to those which prohibit such production but authorize the cultivation of the poppy only for other purposes, article 26, paragraph 1 applies to all Parties which allow the cultivation of the coca bush, no matter for what purpose this may be undertaken.

5. With the temporary exception of use for quasi-medical purposes or smoking or both in the territory of Parties which have made a reservation to that effect pursuant to article 49, opium production must not be permitted for other than medical or scientific purposes. a The production of coca leaves, on the other hand, may not only temporarily be authorized for chewing under article 49, but also permanently for the non-medical purpose of making a flavouring agent, which, however, must not contain any alkaloids. 6 Apart from these exceptions, coca leaf production must be limited exclusively to medical and scientific purposes, including in particular the manufacture of cocaine for such purposes.

6. Extracts and tinctures of coca leaf are coca leaf preparations for the purposes of article 26, paragraph 1. Parties permitting the cultivation of the coca bush may therefore exempt such extracts and tinctures from the requirement of article 26, paragraph 1 and article 23 that the exclusive right, in respect of coca leaves, to engage in the international and wholesale trade and to maintain stocks must be vested in their national coca leaf agencies. Manufacturers of the extracts and tinctures may therefore be authorized to maintain stocks of coca leaves, like manufacturers of other coca leaf preparations and manufacturers of the alkaloids of the coca leaf.

7. The regime of article 26, paragraph 1 differs from that of article 23 in that in the latter case cultivators of the poppy must deliver to the national opium agency their total opium harvest "as soon as possible, but not later than four months after the end of the harvest", while in the former case the cultivators of the coca bush must hand over to the national coca leaf agency their entire crop of leaves only "as soon as possible after the end of the harvest'. No more specific time limit is foreseen for the delivery of this crop. This difference was adopted by the Plenipotentiary Conference because the representative of one of the two principal coca leaf producing countries explained that it would be practically impossible for the national coca leaf agency to collect the entire crop within such a definite period, since the coca bush was often grown in areas which were isolated and difficult of access. 7

8. It may be pointed out that the Single Convention does not contain provisions on the cultivation of the coca bush and on the leaves corresponding to those of article 24, limiting opium production for international trade. s It is also not specifically required that the production of coca leaves should not be initiated, nor existing production be increased, if such action would result in over-production of coca leaves in the world; s but such an obligation may be implied in the general provision of article 4, paragraphs (b) and (c), requiring Parties to co-operate in limiting the production of coca leaves exclusively to medical and scientific purposes, subject to the provisions of the Single Convention. to

9. It may also be noted that coca leaves from which all ecgonine, cocaine and other ecgonine alkaloids have been removed are not "coca leaves" within the meaning of the Single Convention. 11 The provisions of article 26, paragraph 1, therefore do not apply to the trade in and stocks of such leaves, nor do the provisions governing drugs in Schedule I. 3

10. It may be mentioned that the representatives of several countries expressed doubts at the Plenipotentiary Conference that the provisions of article 23, governing the poppy and opium, were adequate for the control of the cultivation of the coca bush, which was carried on under basically different economic and social conditions, and of coca leaves. 12 Paragraph 2 of article 26 seems to prescribe a specific method, namely "uprooting", by which coca bushes growing wild should "so far as possible" be destroyed, while more generally requiring the destruction of illegally cultivated bushes without, however, mentioning the particular way in which this should be done. It is, however, submitted that, if the problem is examined in the light of the aims of the Single Convention, any effective method of destroying bushes growing wild would be satisfactory and not only uprooting. 13 It may be noted that the words "so far as possible" qualify the obligation to enforce the uprooting of coca bushes growing wild, but not that of destroying illegal cultivation. This difference may be explained by the consideration that wild growth will often be much more difficult to discover than cultivated plants. Wild growth may in small quantities occur in numerous locations which may be remote from inhabited places and difficult to reach.

11. Article 22 applies to the cultivation of the coca bush. Under the conditions provided in that article, a Party must prohibit such cultivation to combat not only the illicit traffic in coca leaves, but also that in cocaine. 14 The multilateral narcotics treaties concluded prior to the Single Convention did not contain any provisions expressly governing the cultivation of the coca bush.
 

1 Article 1, para. 1, subpara. (e).

2 Article 1, para. 1, subpara. (f).

3 Article 1, para. 1, subpara. (j) and Schedule 1.

4 Article 1, para. 1, subpara. (t).

5 Article 4, para. (c).

6 Article 27, para. 1.

7 Records, vol. I, p. 153; vol. 11, pp. 172-173.

8 A provision (article 37) was contained in the Third Draft which would have limited the international trade in coca leaves and crude cocaine to leaves produced in Bolivia, Indonesia or Peru and to the crude drug obtained from such leaves. Records, vol. If, p. 14. This provision was not adopted; Records, vol. 11, p. 173 and vol. 1, p. 153.

9 Article 24, para. 1, subpara. (a).

10 Article 27, para. 1 and article 49; see also article 2, para. 9.

11 Article 1, para. 1, subpara. (f).

12 Records, vol. II, pp. 169-171.

13 For background information regarding the cultivation of the coca bush and coca leaf chewing and its problems, see the report of the Commission of Enquiry on the Coca Leaf (May 1950), Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, Twelfth session, Special Supplement No. 1 (E/1666).

14 See above, comments on article 22.