Do Bolivia’s roaming cocaine bars mean Evo Morales is a drug lord?

In the Guardian, Jonathan Franklin provides a first-hand look at “cocaine tourism” in Bolivia:

“Tonight we have two types of cocaine; normal for 100 Bolivianos a gram, and strong cocaine for 150 [Bolivianos] a gram.” The waiter has just finished taking our drink order of two rum-and-Cokes here in La Paz, Bolivia, and as everybody in this bar knows, he is now offering the main course. The bottled water is on the house.

The waiter arrives at the table, lowers the tray and places an empty black CD case in the middle of the table. Next to the CD case are two straws and two little black packets. He is so casual he might as well be delivering a sandwich and fries. And he has seen it all. “We had some Australians; they stayed here for four days. They would take turns sleeping and the only time they left was to go to the ATM,” says Roberto, who has worked at Route 36 (in its various locations) for the last six months.

Franklin reports that in addition to the low prices a number of reasons conspire to make Bolivia the perfect location:

This new trend of ‘cocaine tourism’ can be put down to a combination of Bolivia’s notoriously corrupt public officials, the chaotic “anything goes” attitude of La Paz, and the national example of President Evo Morales, himself a coca grower.

While the rest of the article is great, I’m not sure about the “national example” factor of Morales. I’m pretty sure the president is not selling his crops for processed cocaine. Morales did want to destigmatize coca crops when he won the presidency, but it was to restore the leaf’s role in Bolivia’s cultural heritage, not to give the thumbs up to full scale cocaine production. 

Obviously more coca crops make more cocaine much easier, but I wouldn’t quite say Morales is explicilty in approval. 

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