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This article aims to give some background information about the debate around drug policies in Latin America and to provide a view on a possible future direction of the developing debate.

Recently increasing signs coming from the highest political level indicate that current strategies are perceived as failed, and incentives for a debate on alternatives to prohibition should be discussed. The article reflects on the origin and conditions in which this debate is taking place, and the ideas, options and projection into the political institutions that are designed for that purpose. The article describes the process using existing and new materials and insights produced by scholars and participants in the Latin American drug policy debate.

The article finds that the impetus given to the drug policy reform debate has now reached a level, that it can no longer be avoided to talk openly at the highest political level, about alternatives to current drug policy strategies, based mainly on prohibition.

The article connects recent drug policy debates into a historical perspective, and helps to underscore the need for these reforms, as a solution for the problems faced by Latin American countries, such as increased levels of violence related to the drugs market.

In the past decade, there has been an increase in the number of people facing criminal proceedings related to the traditional use of the coca leaf in Spain. The profile of the defendants, in general, is similar: a migrant person, coming from a country where the traditional and cultural use of the coca leaf is widespread and legal, with few resources and contacts in Spain, and with little knowledge of the criminal justice system. The penalty requests they face are disproportionate, taking into account that they usually involve small quantities of leaves, intended for personal and traditional use. For a decade, the NGO International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research, and Service (ICEERS) has offered support to the legal defence of people facing charges for the traditional use of the coca leaf. This paper aims to offer a general overview and analysis of this work, within the framework of which the authors have deployed various arguments for the defence: the historical error represented by the international (and national) prohibition of the coca leaf, the frictions with the rights of migrants, as well as the questioning of the toxicological analysis methods that accompany the opening of these procedures.

This work is based on the analysis of the information contained in ICEERS’ database and the rulings of both the first instance courts and the Supreme Court. It includes, among other issues, the characteristics of these cases and some trends that the authors have identified. Based on this, some recommendations are offered for better political and judicial management of this social phenomenon.

The efforts by the authors have made possible the considerable reduction of some sentences, as well as greater understanding by justice system operators about the phenomenon of coca leaf traditional uses beyond native contexts. However, it is necessary to complement this work with a more political and international strategy within the debates on drug policy reform. Along with a review of the scientific evidence by the WHO, which adjusts the international control of coca leaf to the reality of the knowledge currently available, greater dialogue with affected communities and the involvement of governments of the countries of origin of the defendants are essential. This could be achieved through the involvement of the consulates or representatives of these communities in Spain, as well as by opening a space in the bilateral agendas. Finally, there is an urgent need for recognition by the international community that the traditional uses of psychoactive plants are no longer limited to certain geographies or populations, but are part of the collective knowledge of an interconnected world.

This paper is based on the authors’ own experience of more than ten years accompanying the defence of these type of cases.