Amazon Basin - Bolivia - page 568

SACRED COCA?
Erythroxylum coca is the scientific name for coca, a plant of the family Erythroxylaceae, native to northwestern
South America. A small tree growing to a height of 7ft to 10ft, the species is identified by its long, opaque leaves
and clusters of yellowish-white flowers, which mature into red berries. In Bolivia the plant grows primarily in the
Yungas, north of La Paz, and in the Chapare region.
But, unless you are a botanist, or have a strange taste in garden plants, you are likely to have heard of coca for
other reasons - prince among them being its role in the production of the narcotic cocaine. To make the drug,
leaves are dried, soaked in kerosene and mashed into a paste. Then they are treated with hydrochloric and sulfuric
acids to form a foul-smelling brown base. Further treatment with petrol and other chemicals creates cocaine.
The leaf was first imported into Europe in the 16th century and by the end of the 19th century German scient-
ists were investigating the potential medicinal applications of its analgesic and anaesthetic properties. It wasn't
long before those same properties made it a popular vice though, with Sherlock Holmes even enjoying its recre-
ational qualities. Recreational use was responsible for a five-fold increase in users between 1890 and 1903, and
with the drug being linked to a supposed increase in criminality over the same period its widespread prohibition
followed shortly afterwards
For most Bolivians, however, the white powder snorted by party-goers worldwide has nothing to do with their
sacred plant, and they resent the suggestion that they should be held responsible for anyone else's misuse of it.
President Evo Morales, a former cocalero (coca grower) himself, has vowed to continue the war against drug-traf-
ficking, but not at the expense of the country's coca industry - according to his government, the two are very dif-
ferent animals. During an address to the UN in 2006, Morales held up a coca leaf to demonstrate that the leaf and
cocaine are not the same.
So what else is coca used for?
Coca has formed a part of the religious rituals of the inhabitants of the Altiplano since the pre-Inca period as an
offering to the Gods Apus (Mountains), Inti (Sun) and Pacha- mama (Mother Earth). It is drunk as a tea (mate de
coca) or chewed to combat altitude sickness or overcome fatigue and hunger. To picchar (to chew coca, from the
Aymará) involves masticating a pile of leaves stored as a bolus in the cheek. The bolus is added to continuously
and saliva passed over the mass has a mild stimulant and anaesthetic effect on the user. Furthermore chewing coca
also serves as a powerful symbol of religious and cultural identity.
During the conquest, the Spanish rulers were somewhat perturbed by these religious connotations. Seeing it as
an obstacle to their evangelization of the masses, they were, however, aware that consumption greatly increased
output by the labor force. This double-edged sword led King Philip II to permit its use as 'essential to the well-be-
ing of the Indians', but to discourage any religious association.
Outside Bolivia, most people know that cocaine was the original active ingredient in Coca-Cola, but few realize
that the coca plant is still involved in its manufacture. Medical company Stepan is one of the very few to have a li-
cense permitting possession of the plant and its derivatives in the US, and it imports 100 tons of dried leaf annu-
ally, some of it for the manufacture of medicines, some of it for the production of the Coca-Cola flavoring agent.
Regardless of its status in Bolivia, coca is illegal in most of the world and travelers should not attempt to take
any coca leaves home. Most countries consider the leaf and the narcotic as one and the same, and you could be
charged with possession of a Class A drug for having even a single petiole in your pocket.