A Harvard-led report calls for distinguishing the coca leaf from cocaine, emphasizing its traditional Andean use as a mild stimulant. The UN will reevaluate its classification in October 2025. Scientists argue that its 1961 ban has criminalized indigenous traditions.
For thousands of years, Andean inhabitants have chewed coca leaves to reduce hunger, thirst, and fatigue, while aiding oxygenation and high-altitude adaptation. The leaf was central to the region's social, spiritual, and medical life until the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs classified it in Schedule I as a dangerous substance with high abuse potential and little therapeutic value.
A team from Harvard University and the Center for Drug Policy and Human Rights published a report in Science, urging international authorities to distinguish the coca leaf from its purified derivative, cocaine. The report comes at a pivotal time: on August 18, 2025, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) announced the leaf's reevaluation at the 48th WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) meeting, October 20-22, 2025.
The committee could recommend removal from Schedule I, alongside cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl, or reclassification to a less restrictive schedule. Recommendations would go to the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs for a vote in March 2026. The authors state the leaf is 'a mild and non-addictive stimulant,' with a 'profound difference' from cocaine, evidenced by its millennia-old cultural use in Andean and Amazonian regions.
Dawson White, a Harvard Biology researcher, explains: 'Declassifying coca would correct a long-standing scientific and legal misclassification, defend the rights of indigenous communities and other coca-growing groups, and enable evidence-based regulation grounded in traditional knowledge.' The ban has impacted over 11 million indigenous and mestizo people, criminalizing traditions and stifling scientific research.
The WHO's Critical Review Report notes low toxicity and no overdose deaths from traditional uses like chewing or infusions. It contains natural alkaloids at low doses (0.5-1%), plus calcium, potassium, and vitamins, acting as a mild stimulant like coffee. Transfer to Schedule II would not automatically legalize cultivation or trade but could allow traditional and medicinal uses under state control. It warns of diversion risks for cocaine production.
Bolivia's government leads a similar campaign to remove it from the list, and projects like Colombia's Tinta Dulce use the leaf for natural dyes in fashion.