Coca is not Cocaine

Transcript Abstract

Coca is not cocaine, and to equate the leaf with the raw alkaloid is as misguided as suggesting that the delicious flesh of a peach is equivalent to the hydrogen cyanide found in every peach pit. Yet, for nearly a century, this has been precisely the legal and political position of nations and international organizations throughout the world. In Peru, programs to eliminate the traditional fields, supported by the United States, began 50 years before a black-market trade in the drug existed. The real issue was not cocaine but, rather, the cultural identity and survival of those who traditionally revered coca. Coca, as consumed by Indigenous peoples for nearly 8000 years, is a mild and benign stimulant that is beneficial to the health and highly nutritious, with no evidence of toxicity or addiction. In the Andes, to chew coca, to hallpay, is to transcend self and become part of the social, moral, and spiritual nexus that gives meaning to life. Efforts to deny access to the leaves, to eradicate the traditional fields, whether in Peru or Colombia, are policies of cultural genocide.