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The Role of Coca in Society

The drought and disease-resistant coca plant is found on the eastern slopes of the Andes primarily in Peru, Bolivia and Colombia. It has been cultivated and consumed by the indigenous peoples of South America's highland communities for thousands of years.
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The Incas considered coca a sacred magical plant. They offered it to Inti, their Sun God, during religious ceremonies and believed their priests must chew koka during these events to appease the gods. Its anesthetic properties helped ease a multitude of ills including toothaches, gastro-intestinal upsets, sore throat, rheumatism and asthma. As a stimulant rich in vitamins and protein, coca was effective in suppressing appetite and increasing stamina where food was scarce.

Mixed with other ingredients to chemically activate the leaf's mind-altering alkaloids (usually lime or quinoa ash), the resulting sweet-tasting paste was chewed throughout the day from a supply carried in a pouch. Some tribes used it to gauge time and distance, using the mouthful (cocada) as a unit of measurement. In colonial times, coca came in handy as a means of boosting productivity among its slave labor in the gold and silver mines. To the Church, it was an impediment, confounding efforts to convince Indians to trade their old religious ways for Catholicism.

By the 19th century, coca had found its way to Europe where it became commonly used as medicine. In 1860 cocaine was first extracted from the leaf. A prescription concoction made from coca and wine became a popular tonic among celebrities. Freud's 1884 paper, "On Coca," recommended it for certain conditions of the mind, and for decades the industrialized world found a widening array of uses for the substance. With coca in its original recipe, Coca-Cola came on the market in 1886, promoted as a stimulating beverage that could treat headaches. Until synthetic anesthetics were developed in the early 20th century, cocaine was used in some kinds of surgery.

As more was learned about coca's addictive qualities, its use waned, and by the 1930s recreation had become its primary purpose. Since 1961, all forms of coca have been on the United Nations' list of banned substances. Under current U.S. law, coca and its derivatives are categorized as a Controlled Substance Schedule 11, strictly prescribed and locked away in hospitals and pharmacies.

In the highland communities of South America, it is a different story. As ubiquitous as American latte stands and cigarette vending machines, coca remains a staple of everyday life and a part of Andean culture. It is on grocery shelves in such products as soft drinks, soaps, shampoo, toothpaste and flour. As mate de coca tea, it is served in respectable hotels and restaurants, offered to tourists to help adjust to higher elevations before beginning their treks to such popular destinations as Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca. For the locals, it is scooped from large bowls and sold in bags in all kinds of shops and by street vendors.

For the United States, the largest importer of illegal cocaine, it is axiomatic that interdiction at the borders and rehabilitation programs at home must be combined with eradication of the product at its source. To that end, the government spends $1 billion a year on collaborative herbicide programs with the governments of the coca-producing countries. These efforts have met with some success, reducing coca cultivation by more than a third. Meanwhile growers adapt to changing business conditions by cultivating fields too small for sprayers to target, by developing more potent herbicide-resistant strains for their product line and by adding more middlemen.

While aggressive eradication efforts go on in some regions, the crop is cultivated legally elsewhere, sold under government supervision. Under a current agreement between the Bolivian government and its farmers, 1/3 acre per farm may be cultivated. It's easy to see why citizens of the coca-growing nations could find U.S. drug policy hypocritical and simplistic, knowing that American parents administer 2.5 million prescription doses of potent stimulants to their children before school each morning and then down millions of double tall lattes to get them through the work day. Why they ask, shouldn't the United States solve its drug addiction problems within its own borders?

Further complicating an already complex diplomatic issue, Evo Morales, an Aymara Indian, coca farmer and union boss was elected president of Bolivia by a landslide in 2005. While challenging U.S. policies, Morales must walk a thin line between the promotion of legitimate coca cultivation and zero tolerance for cocaine trafficking if he is to attract foreign investment and retain international standing for his country. On his first meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, he presented a traditional Bolivian Indian musical instrument called a charango covered with coca leaves. In a move supported by the U.S., he recently added a drug czar position to his cabinet and named a coca farmer the first Vice Minister of Coca.

As much as the United States and the coca-producing countries differ in philosophy, they are not without common ground. Brazil is now the second largest importer of illegal cocaine, and the scourge of drug addition is spilling into other countries of Latin America. Drug-trafficking destabilizes governments by funding insurgencies that offer protection to growers in return for their support and a share of the profits.

Coca is likely to remain a volatile international and domestic issue on both sides of the equator. A study financed by the European Union is underway to determine how much coca is needed to serve traditional and legal uses. Perhaps the answer to this question will help governments agree on whether coca has a rightful place in the international commodities market. It is unlikely to help them figure out how to effectively limit its production to legitimate purposes.