( CNN ) -- Holding up a coca leaf at a U.N. meeting on narcotics Monday , Bolivian President Evo Morales defended the practice of chewing on the leaves as tradition and urged the body to reconsider its decision to declare it illegal . Coca leaves , the raw ingredient used in the making of cocaine , were declared an illegal substance under Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 , along with heroin and others . `` I want to ask the assistance of the international community in correcting a historical error that was committed against the Bolivian people when it unreservedly ratified the Single Convention Against Narcotic Drugs of 1961 , '' Morales told the 55th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna , Austria . Bolivia has withdrawn from the convention , but said it would rejoin if the traditional consumption of coca leaf is allowed to continue . Morales , a former union leader for coca growers , told the body his country has designated $ 20 million to fight cocaine trafficking -- but cultural `` producers of coca leaf are not drug dealers ; consumers of coca leaf are not drug addicts , '' he said . `` I want to stress that at no time Bolivia acts untimely or irresponsibly , '' he said . Coca is widely used in the Andes as a mild stimulant and herbal medicine . Advocates say the leaves , which contain small amounts of cocaine , have several health and social benefits and dismiss claims it is dangerous . Morales has said `` sacred '' coca in its raw state is not an addictive drug and emphasizes that it has had a legitimate medical purpose for hundreds of years . But coca remains the raw ingredient for the purified forms of cocaine , which are illegal for non-medicinal , non-government-sanctioned purposes in virtually all countries . And for almost half a century the chewing of coca leaves has been banned internationally . Bolivia is currently the world 's third biggest coca producer after Colombia and Peru , according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime . It has much to gain if its campaign to legalize coca leaves is successful . Energy drinks , flour and even toothpaste derived from the leaves could be sold around the world . One of these , Coca Colla , which trades on the name of the more famous U.S. soft drink that originally contained coca , has been a hit since its launch last year in Bolivia in 2010 . According to the Washington Office on Latin America , ( WOLA ) an American non-governmental organization , the United States is likely to oppose any move to have coca leaf removed from the 1961 U.N . Single Convention on Narcotics Drugs . The International Narcotics Control Board is also opposed to any lifting of the ban . CNN 's Peter Wilkinson and Claudia Rebaza contributed to this report .
# ##ine is the raw ingredient used in the making of coffee . The leaves have been declared an illegal substance . Bolivia is the third biggest coca producer in the world . Morales said coffee in its raw state is not an addictive drug .