Chapter II

COCA : THE PLANT AND ITS USE

Eleanor Carroll, M .A.

COCA AND HEALTH

Extent of Use -- Past and Present

At the time of the Inca, use of coca was confined, according to many
historians, to the royal family, and to certain favored others --
for example, courtiers, court orators, and members of the army
during battles . It is impossible to say how much coca was produced
or consumed during this time, but there is abundant evidence from
many sources, that it was considered to be an extremely important,
even precious crop.

Contemporary observers, at the time of the Conquest, commented on

the gold representations of the coca plant in the special gardens of
the Inca in Cuzco . From the same Inca period (AD 800-1000) come
numerous examples of small spoons or spatulas for extracting the
lime added to coca leaves) made of bronze, silver or gold, with
miniature figures of men or animals on the handles . Even before the
time of the Inca the quality of the grave goods from various
archaeological sites attest to the supreme value placed on coca by
higher classes of society . The Moche period (AD 200-700) has
yielded up valuable figured gold bags for coca leaves, and contain-
ers for lime made of precious metals come from the coastal Tia-
huanaco period (AD 800-1000).

The Spanish conquerors made an early, and unsuccessful attempt to

eliminate the use of coca, because of its prominence in native
religious ceremonies . They soon became not only reconciled to its
use but even exploiters of the plant . Use was no longer confined to
the nobility ; as soon as the stimulating effects of coca on work
production were recognized, hacienda owners took full advantage of
the fact and put more and more land into the production of coca.
Sixteenth Century chroniclers report that many Spaniards became
extremely wealthy simply from the yields of their coca plantations.
To meet the need of more land for coca production, the Spaniards
extended their subjugation efforts even to primitive forest Indians
who had not succumbed to Inca domination . Even the Church, which
had initially been so opposed to coca production and use, saw its
economic value, and initiated and maintained coca plantations of
its own .

35


It was also, shortly after the time of the Conquest that the custom
of giving workers coca as part of their wage began . This custom
persists to this day, both on the part of major employers (for
example mining companies and major hacienda owners) and on the part
of small farmers who have assembled a group of their neighbors for
cooperative farming activities.

At the time of the Inca, production of coca had spread as far north
as the Isthmus of Panama and the Caribbean, and as far south as
Chile . During the latter half of the 19th century, when the use of
cocaine for various therapeutic purposes had come to be recognized,
production of coca was introduced into Java, Ceylon and even the
island of Jamaica.

Today, most of the coca which is legally produced comes from Peru
and Bolivia, although there is still extensive illegal cultivation
and use in Colombia, parts of Argentina, Brazil and some parts of
Ecuador. Concern about illegal channeling into the production of
cocaine is centered in Peru, Colombia, Bolivia and Ecuador . Neither
Peru nor Bolivia has ever outlawed the production of coca, although
in Peru efforts have been made to confine its production to certain
departments . In Bolivia the abolition of large estates after the
Bolivian agricultural reform of 1953 led to a temporary reduction in
coca production because of neglect of the estates during the
transition and because the government forbade the planting of new
coca fields . However, the agricultural workers who had become
independent ignored the government decree and extended the area of
cultivation in order to keep up with increasing demand.

According to figures submitted by the Peruvian Government to the

United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control in December, 1975,
production of coca is authorized in 11 of the 24 Peruvian Depart-
ments. These departments are Amazones, La Libertad, Cajamarca, San
Martin, Ancash, Junin, Cuzco, Puno, Ayacucho, Apurimac and
Arequipa . Approximately 17,500 authorized growers of coca are
distributed over 16,000 hectares of territory . These growers
produce almost 10,000,000 kilos of coca annually . About 57 percent
of production comes from the Department of Cuzco . The government
estimates that about 6,000,000 kilos of coca are consumed locally by
approximately 900,000 persons.

In Peru, as well as Bolivia, the primary coca producing and con-

suming countries, comparatively little is known about the ways coca
is ingested or its distribution of use across racial, ethnic, social
class and occupational categories . The bulk of Indian users
continue to employ coca as a masticatory, while most of the mestizo
and criollo users ingest coca in the form of a tea, as either a
refreshing beverage or as a treatment for a variety of ailments.
For a long time, the conventional wisdom asserted that coca chewing
was confined to Andean Quechua-speaking Indians, and that Indians
living in a tropical environment did not use it . There is now
increasing evidence that even lowland Indians chew coca . In
addition, of course, an unknown amount of coca is used by the
Indians in teas, or for poultices, etc . Current findings indicate
that mestizo farmers in the Peruvian coastal areas below Arequipa

36
chew coca, as do truck drivers, fishermen, and stevedores in various
parts of the country. In Cuzco, coca is chewed by some mestizo and
criollo intellectuals and artists . Coca tea is dispensed in many
tourist hotels in Cuzco to help guests cope with the difficulties of
altitude sickness ("soroche") . Coca is currently being packaged in
tea bags in Lima and simply marked as "refreshing tea ."

Bolivia is another principal producer of coca . For a while, during

the latter part of the 19th century, when cocaine was extensively
used in various therapeutic preparations, the coca leaf of Bolivia
was prized above that of Peru because of the higher cocaine alkaloid
content.

There are no exact figures on the overall amount of coca being

produced in Bolivia nor on the number of acres under cultivation,
according to Bolivia's December, 1975 statement to the United
Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control . Coca production is legal in
all department of Bolivia, but most of the production is confined to
the subtropical, humid valleys of the Yungas (north of La Paz), to
Chapara in the Department of Cochabamba, and to Yepecani in Santa
Cruz.

According to estimates produced for the U .S . Embassy in Bolivia in

1975, more than half of the native population of about 5 million are
coca consumers -- in other words at least 2-3 million persons.
About 7,000 metric tons are consumed legally within the country each
year, and at least 2,000 metric tons are exported legally each year.

The actual number of consumers of coca in Bolivia is a matter of

more than purely academic interest, since the Bolivian Government
is on record as having no intention of doing away with the
indigenous consumption of coca . However, it is firmly committed,
with the aid of United States agricultural experts, to reducing the
overall coca production to levels consonant with traditional use
and to experimenting with substitute crops to determine the poten-
tial contribution of these crops to the overall economic well-being
of the country.

There is almost no material in the literature about the process of

socialization into the use of coca, particularly in the case of
children . We do not know at exactly what age a child is socialized
into the use of coca; whether male and female children are socializ-
ed at the same, or different, ages, in the same ways ; or, indeed,
whether and how many females use coca at all . The differential use
of coca by the sexes varies not only from one country to another,
but even from one region to another within the same country.

It is safe to assume that there is postponement of the use of coca

as a masticatory until adolescence or later, a time which will
correspond to the assumption of adult role and occupational respon-
sibilities . Among the variety of uses to which coca, in various
forms, is put, certainly one of the preeminent is its use as a work
adjunct (as a stimulant) and this fact would dictate that full use
would coincide with the beginning of mature work patterns.

37
Not enough work has been done so far on the crucial distinctions
between the varying types of role allocations and role responsi-
bilities, and the amount of coca which might be consumed in carrying
out one's duties . It is especially necessary to break down any
occupational role into the component parts tied to specific func-
tions, and to determine -- both from observation and from interviews
with users themselves -- what they consider the appropriate amounts
of coca to be used by members of both sexes, by persons with varying
degrees of responsibility and so on . Similarly, it is also
necessary to ask such questions as what kinds of coca are to be used
and how the respondent chooses the leaves he/she is going to buy.
some initial efforts have been made to account for the differences
in the way volume is conceived and measured by the Indian population
and by official investigators.

In any consideration of drug use (whether natural or synthetic) it

is essential that the fullest possible description be given both of
the material and of the method of ingestion . It is not necessary to
go into a botanical description of the coca shrub and of its many
species (estimated to be about 250) here. About 24 of these 250 are
known to grow in Peru . The two domesticated species most widely
cultivated in Peru are Erythoxylon coca and Erythoxylon novo-
granatense var truxillense . usually called Truxillo coca . Huanaco
coca, from Bolivia, was preferred by 19th century manufacturers of
cocaine-based products because it is much richer in cocaine alka-
loids.

It is interesting to note, however, that from the 18th century

onward, travelers have commented on the fact that the Indians, given
a choice of leaves for chewing, always rejected those leaves with
the heaviest concentration of the cocaine alkaloid, since those
leaves have a bitter taste . They much preferred leaves which are
richer in aromatic alkaloids . Unfortunately, some modern studies
do not distinguish between the various types of coca, and almost all
research to date has concentrated solely on the cocaine alkaloid;
the other 13 known alkaloids in the leaf have been neglected almost
completely.

Martin (1975) has noted that the process of masticating coca --

termed "chaccar n or "acullicar" in Peru and Bolivia -- is essential-
ly the same now as it was in the time of the Incas . The Indian
carries the coca leaves (in a woven sack) with him carefully
choosing several leaves to chew until they form a sort of quid (the
acullico), which is held between the mouth and gums . Then an
alkaline mixture is inserted into the wad of leaves . This alkaline
mixture -- known as, "llipta," "tocra," or "mambe" --varies from one
region to another, depending on the materials available . It can be
made up of quick lime, ashes obtained from burning the stalks of the
quinoa plant, or bark from certain trees . This alkaline mixture is
carried in a separate container, quite frequently a gourd ("ishcu-
puru" in Peru ; "poporo" in Colunbia), an ancient method represented
in the grave goods at pre-Incan burial sites . The present day
Indians usually use a moistened stick to dip into the alkaline
mixture and moisten the coca quid with it ; in earlier times, these

38
spatulas were themselves often made of precious materials and
extensively decorated . Great care must be exercised to prevent this
caustic material from touching the lips or gums, as some novices
have learned to their sorrow . Apparently this alkaline mixture
facilitates the release of the active alkaloid principles of the
coca . The leaves and alkaline mixture is kept in the mouth, and the
juice trickles into the stomach . Although the term masticate is
used to describe the process, it is not strictly accurate to say
that the Indians chew the leaves . It might be added that this
admixture of a lime substance to a plant drug is not confined solely
to the use of coca -- it is also the practice of many betel nut
chewers.

There are some variations on this method of preparing and using coca
leaves . Some small Indian groups in Colombia (in the areas border-
ing on Brazil), as well as some Brazilian Amazonian Indians, do not
use the leaves until they have been pounded into a fine powder . The
ashes of burned alkaline substances are then added to this powder
before putting it into one's mouth.

The supposedly noxious effects of coca chewing attributed to it by

some observers, have succeeded in giving the coca leaf a reputation
only slightly less abhorrent than that of cocaine . However, even
cocaine does not produce withdrawal symptoms similar to those
produced by narcotics . Coca leaves were employed by the Indians for
over 2,000 years prior to cocaine's discovery without any notable
toxic effects . The reports of overindulgence in coca leaves are few
and far between in the literature . No clinical disease is directly
attributable to coca chewing ; even the withdrawal syndrome is
relatively mild . Indians of the Sierra, when drafted into military
service, where use of coca is forbidden, give it up without any
noticeable ill effects.

In the last several decades, an increasing number of authors have

asserted that a variety of pathological defects can be attributed to
coca chewing, including hyponutrition, ocular disturbance, enlarged
thyroid glands and lymph nodes ; yet, for each of these assertions,
an equally well-trained observer has claimed just the opposite.

From the standpoint of health, we lack research which will fit the
coca shrub into the overall folk pharmacopoeia of the country . (It
is estimated that in Bolivia alone there are more than 5,000
different plants, each with its assigned role in the folk medicine
of the country .) We need an investigation of medical folklore --
the reasons assigned to various kinds of illnesses, and the way in
which the Spanish notions of hot and cold (in relationship to both
the origin and the treatment of various ailments) have been tied
into the pre-Conquest beliefs of the Indian populations . Further,
there have been no studies, in either Peru or Boliva which examine
the beliefs and attitudes toward coca and coca chewers of a cross-
section of the populations of these countries.

Coca is only one of the many indigenous psychoactive drugs presently

used by large portions of the population in various Latin American
countries, particularly Mexico, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil . Although
use of such drugs is most characteristic of the rural, primarily
39
Indian, sections of the countries, use is spreading to the more
urbanized areas . This extension of use is due in great part to the
fact that many of these drugs (for example, ayahuasca and San Pedro
cactus) are used by native curers (curanderos) in their healing
ceremonies . Curanderos are patronized in the towns not only by
Indians, but by mestizos (i .e . those of mixed Indian-Spanish
origins) as well.

There are tremendous difficulties attendant upon the initiation of

research in this area, beginning with the choice of sample and
control subjects to be studied . If the study is to be undertaken in
the high Andes region, traditionally the area of greatest coca
consumption, it may be difficult to find control subjects who are
not users . Extreme poverty, malnutrition, and inadequate health
care are characteristics of the inhospitable ecological regions
where these heavy coca chewers live . These conditions make it
difficult to factor out the possible causal effects of coca chewing
on poor physical health . Further, most ethnographic evidence
indicates that coca chewing increases with age, so this is another
confounding factor . Possibly the most difficult correlative factor
to control for is alcohol use . Heavy users of coca also tend to be
heavy users of alcohol (usually an indigenous type of beverage,
fermented rather than distilled) . Alcohol, as well as coca, is
consumed at major and minor fiestas . There is, indeed, some slight
indication that as Indians become acculturated to the meztizo way of
life, particularly in cities, that they may increasingly turn to
alcohol as a substitute, rather than as a supplement to coca use.

COCA AS A THERAPEUTIC

Coca is one of the most important, if not the most important of all
drugs in the folk pharmacopeia of the Altipano . The Indians use
the term "mamita kukita" (little mother coca) to describe the coca
plant, and this sobriquet gives eloquent expression to the
essentially protective and comforting role they assign to the drug.
The role, of course, has many facets.

The most widely publicized function of the drug is its energizing

capacity ; that is, its ability to reduce muscular exhaustion and
alleviate hunger and thirst . The Incas recognized this quality, and
distributed coca leaves to their "chasquis" (relay messengers) as
well as to soldiers.

The Incas believed that coca could stimulate mental as well as

physical activity, and the "varavecsw (court orators), who served
as the repositories of Incan history in the absence of written
records, were among the privileged few allowed to chew coca . Some
present day Peruvian commentators, however, not only completely
reject the idea of coca as a spur to mental production, but go so
far as to say that it impedes cerebral activity.

from the 16th century onward, foreigners have commented extensively

on the incredible ability of the Peruvian Indians of the Sierra to

40
travel along narrow mountain paths while bearing heavy burdens,
sustained only by an occasional "acullico," or chew of coca . These
Indians are even accustomed to measuring the length of a journey by
the hours that one chew of coca will sustain them -- a period of
time called the "cocada" (about 45 minutes).

Coca is equally important to the routine work of the Indians either

on the farm or in the mines . The Spanish conquerors recognized the
stimulating quality of the drug soon after the Conquest and, devil
or not, they began to employ it extensively and brutally. They
sometimes forced the Indians to work unbelievably long hours -- up
to 48 hours at one stretch -- without any food or rest . Work in the
Potosi mines of Bolivia was so terrible that many Indians committed
suicide when told they were being sent to work there.

An insightful article about the miners and their lives underground

by June Nash (1972), an anthropologist, explains that coca is used
not only as an energizer, but also as an important ingredient in
religious and magic rituals . According to the article, coca use is
inextricably intertwined in the daily lives of these Aymara
Indians.

The miners believe that a pre-Christian ogre "Huari," lives in the

hills where the mines are located, and he is venerated in the form
of the devil, or Tio . They are convinced that Huari alone knows the
location of rich veins of ore and that he will lead persons who
sacrifice to him to those veins . Not only can the Tio reveal, or
withhold, the knowledge of rich veins ; he can also cause accidents
to those who fail to placate him with proper offerings.

Miners make images of the Tio (the features may differ, but the body
is always made of ore) and place them in niches cut into the walls
of the mine, where the miners rest . Hands, face, arms and legs are
shaped of clay from the walls of the mine, and the main feature of
the figure is always an enormous mouth into which offerings are
placed . Coca remains are placed there; his hands grasp bottles of
alcohol and his nose is burnt black by lighted cigarettes . Every
Friday the workers make a ceremonial offering, a "ch'alla," to the
Tio, composed of coca, cigarettes and alcohol . Here, too, the
beneficial effects of coca are also recognized because the miners
say that coca is a gift of the Pachamama (a deity who precedes the
Incas) to help them in their work.

In the rituals of the ch'alla and the even more elaborate "k'araku"
(involving the sacrifice of llamas in addition to the offerings of
coca and "chicha") after deaths caused by mine accidents, Tie's
power to destroy is transformed into the socially useful function of
increasing mineral yield, giving at least some peace of mind to the
miners.

Coca is very important to the Indian farmer who also practices

special rituals involving the use of coca for the specific tasks of
farming (e .g ., sowing, weeding, harvesting, house building) . The
Indians almost universally regard coca as a food, although this does
not mean that they choose to subsist exclusively on coca, as has
sometimes been alleged .
41
Some modern observers have condemned the use of coca, alleging that
it simply anesthetizes the feelings of hunger without contributing
in any way to nutrition. In fact, some of these observers attribute
malnutrition to the use of coca . Other observers, however, point
out that chemical analysis of coca leaves has shown that they are
relatively rich in vitamins, particularly vitamin B1, riboflavin
and vitamin C . Approximately 2 ounces of coca leaves (an average
daily amount) contains almost the minimum daily vitamin require-
ment, an important point, they have argued, in view of the great
shortage of fruits and vegetables (particularly fresh vegetables)
in the Sierra . Many Indian farmers in the Altiplano subsist today,
as they have for centuries, on a diet consisting primarily of
varieties of dried and frozen potatoes, very small amounts of dried
meat (something like jerky), and roasted maize and barley.

Some 19th century observers stated that coca assisted in the

assimilation of other foods, by increasing the flow of saliva and
gastric secretions and giving strength to the muscles of the gastro-
intestinal tract . Whatever the validity of this observation, it is
noteworthy that even today, throughout a great part of South
America, an infusion of coca leaves is regarded as a sovereign
remedy for indigestion and stomach complaints . A decoction of the
leaves, drunk regularly, allegedly guards against bowel laxity,
while a powder of the leaves, drunk with salt and egg white, is used
in the treatment of ulcers.

Coca continues to be used to relieve the pain of rheumatism and

external sores . In the 16th century, indigenous practitioners
employed coca to reduce the swelling of wounds and to strengthen
broken bones . It is widely believed that coca served as a local
anesthetic in skull trephining in pre-Conquest times . Coca seeds
employed in vapors are used to stem nose bleeds, while powdered coca
taken in tea' with sugar is used for asthma . One 19th century
scientist pointed out that Bolivian Indians, employed in collect-
ing cinchona bark in the forests of Bolivia, were inclined to rely
more heavily on coca for the treatment of malaria than on the
malaria-specific antidote, quinine-containing cinchona bark.

Coca is also employed by the Indians not only to prevent but also to
treat disease of the teeth and gums -- an effect attested to by many
European observers . Masticated coca leaves are used as a poultice
for the treatment of sore eyes . For headache, in addition to the
tea made of an infusion of coca leaves, a poultice of chewed leaves
is placed on the patient's forehead . Coca is also used to ease
uterine contractions in childbirth.

Coca is esteemed by the Indians as an aphrodisiac, and is reputed to

insure longevity with unimpaired sexual powers . Nineteenth century
observers commented on the incredible longevity of some Ecuadorean
Indians, with life spans stretching up to 100 years or more.

One aspect of health in relation to coca which has rarely been

mentioned is psychic . health ; that is, what is the contribution of
coca to the psychic well-being of the Andean populations? Coca is
used to diagnose disease, to divine the future, to placate irate

42
spirits ; in other words, to give an individual some sense of control
in a hostile and threatening world . Only now are the importance of
studies which would delineate the role of coca in the maintenance of
mental health beginning to be appreciated, and there have been some
small beginnings in this area.

During the latter part of the 19th century, U .S . physicians experi-

mented widely with many coca preparations, as they had with cannabis
preparations . Coca was used in the treatment of a variety of
ailments, including neurasthenia (nervous exhaustion), depression,
nervous disorders, stomach disorders and throat infections . Then,
all coca preparations fell under a cloud, not only because of the
growing reluctance to depend on herbal remedies, but also because
coca was increasingly identified with cocaine and that substance's
toxic effects.

The history of coca is, in many ways, strikingly similar to that of

cannabis . Although, of course, the provenance of the shrub
Erythoxylon coca is more circumscribed than that of cannabis, and
coca history -- so far as is known at the present time --is of much
shorter duration, coca is, in many ways, a multi-purpose drug as is
cannabis . It is a plant deemed by its indigenous users to be of
divine origin because of its miraculous properties, which is the way
cannabis was regarded both in India and China . It is a plant which
has been used, and continues to be used, in religious rituals, just
as cannabis is in many parts of India and Pakistan ; it is a basic
ingredient in fiestas, as cannabis was, for example, in celebra-
tions of the harvest in Poland, Hungary and parts of Russia well
into this century . It is the basic ingredient in the folk pharma-
copeia -- a sort of all-purpose drug -- similar to the role of
cannabis in India, parts of Pakistan and Jamiaca, to name but a few
countries. Coca has always been employed as an energizer, as a work
adjunct, as a motivator for undertaking and continuing arduous
types of jobs, which is, indeed, the way ganja is used today in
Jamaica, bhang in India and cannabis among some Brazilian Indians.

Coca also resembles cannabis in the variety of methods of ingestion

which can be employed in its use, with the sole exception of
smoking. Coca is ordinarily used as a masticatory, and the user
keeps coca leaves, along with "llipta," in his mouth . However, in
some parts of Colombia, for example, the coca leaves and the
ingredients of the llipta are ground together into a very fine
powder, and it is the powder which is placed in the mouth . In some
parts of Brazil, coca is mixed with "cassava," (a bread), which is
strongly reminiscent of cannabis' traditional use for food prepara-
tion in, to cite only one example, Nepal . In several parts of the
world, coca is used externally in the form of poultices, as is
cannabis for example, to treat aching teeth.

Less is known about the chemical properties of coca than about

cannabis . Of the 14 alkaloids known to be contained in the plant,
almost all the research to date has concentrated only on the cocaine
alkaloid, despite the fact that as early as the late 19th century,
there were calls to investigate the alkaloid cuskohygrine.

43
There are other ways, of course, in which coca and cannabis resemble
each other, as there are ways in which coca resembles other widely
used indigenous drugs . For example, coca still serves as a medium
of exchange, as does opium in many parts of the Golden Triangle ; it
is like khat, from Yemen, in that it is always a part of cele-
brations ; it is like peyote from Mexico in that it is still widely
used as a method of divination. from the standpoint of the Indians
who use it, it is not accident that the coca plant has been given a
divine origin and attributes, since it is used for so many
purposes -- therapeutic, religious, recreational, occupational,
and economic.

Eleanor Carroll, M .A.

Division of Research
Rational Institute on Drug Abuse

44


REFERENCES
Coca : The Plant and Its Use

Grinspoon, L . and Bakalar, J .B . Cocaine, A Drug and Its Social

Evolution . New York, NY : Basic Books, Inc ., 1976.

Gutierrez-Noriega, C . and Zapata Ortiz, V. Estudios sobre la Coca y

la Cocaina en el Peru . Lima, Ministero de Education Publica,
1947.

Hanna, J .M . Coca Leaf Use in Southern Peru : Some Biosocial

Aspects . American Anthropoligist, 76 :281-296 (1974).

Martin, R .T . The role of coca in the history, religion and medicine

of South American Indians . Economic Botany, 24, (1970) . In
Andrews, G . and Solomon, D . (ads), The Coca Leaf and Cocaine
Papers . New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975.

Metzger, D . Personal communications . (5 ROl DAO1257 . Quechua Use

of Erythoxylon Coca in Southern Peru).

Murphy, H .B .M ., Rios, 0 . and Negrete, J .C . The Effects of

Abstinence and Retraining on the Chewer of Coca Leaf.
Bulletin on Narcotics 21(2) :41-47 (1969).

Nash, J . Devils, Witches and sudden death . Natural History,

71(3) :52-60 (1972) .

45