The United States just says NO.

Is the United States powerful enough to control the coca plant market in Bolivia? Apparently, that’s the plan. The US has been instructing the Bolivian government on how to and in what regards to control and permit the use and sale of the coca plant.

The conflict over the coca plan lies between the US government with the concern of cocaine and drug trafficking and Bolivian President Evo Morales who supports coca farmers in the Yucatan as the first indigenous president who was a farmer.

Although the coca plan is sold as an ingredient for goods such as medicine, toothpaste and food, it is also used as a main ingredient for cocaine. The US approach to this problem is to attack the source and eliminate the commercialization and consumption of cocaine, except for in specific traditional use in Bolivia. In a government issued statement, Christy McCampbell, the district assistant secretary for the State Department noted: "that the United States does not support 'any kind of commercialization of coca and never will' because 'if you grow coca that means there's more cocaine on the streets. You need only one specific thing to make cocaine and that's the coca leaf.'"

In contrast, President Morales supports and defends the farmers in Bolivia. In addition, he has also promise to fight drug use and trafficking. Morales addresses the conflict of interest, although he is trying to support both sides, in an article in which the Bolivian President is asking the US to address the cocaine problem: “As much as our colleagues strive toward voluntary coca eradication, if they (the United States) don't reduce demand, there'll be coca that goes toward the illegal problem.”