THIS IS A COCA LEAF, NOT COCAINE, INSISTS MORALES

Evo Morales, the Bolivian leader, ate a coca leaf in front of
delegates at the UN summit on drugs yesterday, to underline his
demand that the raw ingredient of cocaine should be allowed for
medicinal and other uses.

President Morales, a former peasant coca farmer, brandished the leaf
during an impassioned speech, saying: "This is coca leaf, this is not
cocaine, this is part and parcel of a culture." He told ministers
that the ban on coca was a "major historical mistake".

He added: "It has no harmful impact, no harmful impact at all in its
natural state. It causes no mental disturbances, it does not make
people run mad, as some would have us believe, and it does not cause
addiction."

Coca is commonly used in Bolivia and Peru to stave off hunger and
altitude sickness, as well as being used in cooking.

Mr Morales, who also said that he was dedicated to tackling the trade
in illicit drugs, including cocaine, said that he hoped US President
Barack Obama would support his campaign.

"The new US President has similarities to me," he said.

"Before, nobody believed that an Indian could be president and nobody
thought that a black man could be president of the United States."