According to the Lonely Planet 1.5 million kilos of coca leaves are consumed in Bolivia every month, but don’t go looking for a shop with a sign over the door that reads — COCA LEAVES SOLD HERE. Meanwhile Coca-Cola’s red and white logo is emblazoned everywhere, the masthead and de facto flag of cultural imperialism.
The UN Single Convention on narcotic drugs still considers the coca leaf a narcotic and calls for the eradication of coca leaf chewing. And that’s a bit like telling an Englishman to stop drinking tea.
But hang on a minute Rob; aren’t you talking about the notorious coca leaf, reviled by the US and other governments around the world because it is the principle ingredient of Cocaine? Well, yes I am. Only that the coca leaf is considered sacred amongst the Andean peoples, and has been used since pre-Inca times. It plays a key role in many indigenous ceremonies, is used as a stimulant to overcome fatigue, hunger and thirst, and it is considered particularly effect in alleviating the effects of altitude sickness. I can vouch for the latter.
When Coca-Cola was launched its two main ingredients were cocaine, and caffeine. The cocaine came from the coca leaf, and the caffeine from the Kola nut, hence the name Coca-Cola. Here endeth the lesson. My give on this is that if the American Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had its way the entire coca leaf production in Bolivia, Peru and Columbia would be napalmed, except for its own domestic supply of course — for medicinal purposes and as a flavouring for America’s top brand and global phenomenon.
“In the United States, Stepan Company is the only manufacturing plant authorized by the Federal Government to import and process the coca plant, which it obtains mainly from Peru and, to a lesser extent, Bolivia. Besides producing the coca flavoring agent for Coca-Cola, Stepan Company extracts cocaine from the coca leaves, which it sells to Mallinckrodt, a St. Louis, Missouri pharmaceutical manufacturer that is the only company in the United States licensed to purify cocaine for medicinal use.” (Wikipedia)
During the first prime-time address of his presidency, George Bush, desperate to get some sort of war going, declared a War on Drugs. During Evo Morales first address to the General Assembly of the United Nations he held up a Coca leaf (considered by the US and most of the West to be a class one drug) and said, “It is green, not white like cocaine.”
“The question is not only one of economics. Why should Bolivian coca growers change what they have been growing for centuries in order to appease another state? In essence, the U.S. is holding Bolivia, as well as Peru and Columbia, responsible for its domestic problems of drug abuse.” (Alexandra Dzero, TheSydneyGlobalist)
So: a case of double standards? I think so. America promotes coca eradication as a means to solve some of its internal drug abuse problems, disapproves of the likes of Morales and Chavez for not towing the line, and has not a care in the world about the true significance of the coca leaf to Andean peoples — as long as it can get its own supply.
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