The Coca plant
Coca is not a drug, it’s food.  

Coca, scientifically known as Erythroxylon Coca  is a medicinal and ceremonial plant traditionally used by Andean cultures.
It is a medium height bush that grows in hot, humid climates on the lower slopes of mountains. Since ancient times coca leaves were, and still are, used due to its medicinal and ritual purposes. They are chewed, ingested or prepared in infusion. 
Coca leaves are actually an essential dietary supplement in the social and ecological conditions of the Andes. They contain a considerable proportion of the requirements of vitamins and minerals.  They also supress hunger, improving life in the jungle and mountain environments where the availability of protein may be limited by local or seasonal factors. Another property of coca, related to its alkaloid content is its stimulating effect, it also facilitates efforts in conditions of the  low oxygen content of the mountain heights.

Coca leaf tea or «mate de coca» is also consumed in Peru and Bolivia to relieve altitude sickness or «altitude sickness» and as a digestive. The medicinal properties of coca resemble to some extent the Mapuche “boldo”.
During colonial times, Spanish authorities used these stimulant and appetite suppressant properties of coca to improve workers performance in the difficult silver miners conditions.
 Coca trade provided considerable income to the colonial authorities. In 1583 more than one millon kilos of coca leaves were brought to the mines of Upper Peru.  
Pictures taken by the author in the Chapare region of Cochabamba.

Coca alkaloids

Coca contains numerous alkaloids which give its known therapeutic properties.
The best known alcaloid is cocaine that has stimulant and digestive effects. Other alkaloids contained in coca include atropine, egnomina, the pecticina, papain, hygrine, globulin, quinoline, conina, cocamine, reserpine, benzoin, inulin and pyridina. Its properties are described in Table 3.2.

Cocaine

Cocaine is structurally to Solanaceae alkaloids such as belladonna, henbane, mandrake and satura. 
Its usual formula is cocaine hydrochloride, and apparently,it prevents the absorption of certain transmitters that have been released by other means. 
 Minimum active dose of nasal application is about 20-30 mg while the lethal dose is 1 to 1.5 grams.  It has a high tolerance and some people have ingested 4-5 grams daily without lethal effects.
This alkaloid was first isolated in 1859 by Florentine Paolo Mantegaza researcher and Austrian Karl Cherence of Austria.
In those days it was considered as an almost miraculous substance.
It was at this time that Dr Frances Angelo Mariani visiting Potosí, Bolivia, observed the natives chewing coca and upon his return to France developed a product which he called Mariani Wine. This “wine” was sold with great success.
In the late nineteenth century, coca and cocaine became popular and prestigious European intellectuals and professional classes became regular consumers..
Sigmond Freud himself stated:
At present it is impossible to assess with certainty the extent to which coca can potentially increase human mental powers.
I have the impression that prolonged use of cocaine can lead to a lasting improvement if the inhibitions expressed before it is consumed only to be physical causes or exhaustion. Of course, the instantaneous effect of a dose of cocaine can not be compared with an injection of morphine; But from the positive point of view, there is no danger of damage to the body generally as is the case with chronic use of morphine. 10   .
Then Freud himself would deny such early claims.
Enthusiasm generated by coca and cocaine in Western society led to their use in medicine and to the preparation of various elixirs which achieved wide acceptance. This habit spread among the population and markets for cocaine expanded.
When the prohibitionist ideology succeeded en the United States. and arguing that cocaine had addictive character and that was potentially harmful (with prolonged administration in high doses) a political movement proposing its banning developed.
In 1906, through the Poor Food and Drug Act, this alkaloid, as well as heroin  poppy, were banned in the United States.
It was the bãeginning of a process that would continue throughout the century. Despite its illegality, cocaine consumption gradually spread. As a result, coca cultivation in their areas of origin as well as clandestine laboratories for the manufacture of cocaine grew in many Latin American countries. Simultaneously  transportation networks for its distribution were organized. The highly unsuccessful war on cocaine had started.
From: "Peoples, Drugs and Serpents", Danilo Anton, Piriguazú Ediciones.

The war of capitalism against itself

The fight against drugs is a war of capitalism against itself. It is a curious war that aims to eradicate the full neoliberal manifestation of commodity fetishism. 
It is a war against one of the most coveted and effective forms of accumulation of capital, which nevertheless generously irrigate the financial system, in Puritan minds produces a spirit of crusade that would envy those pious inquisitors who in the fifteenth century drafted, with the grace of details, the Malleus Maleficarum.
Within a few years, when the mood has subsided and the provenance of the accumulated capital has been forgotten, the war against drugs will be remembered as one of the most stupid of humanity, just as we remember today the religious wars of past centuries. 
The comparison goes beyond being a simple metaphor. To speak of drugs is to enter into a thorny theological issue, inheritance of the battle Yahweh fought against Baal for endowing the Hebrew tribes with their own territory.
The God of the desert declared war on the Canaanite cults that resorted to drunkenness to communicate with their gods, becoming Baal-Zebuth in a diabolical force-Beelzebub-which is identified since then with the orgies of the coven. The fight against the prophets -nebiim- of Baal was assumed by Elijah to love a holy war. Being reluctant to use euphoria, Elias calls for abstinence and foresight, criticizing the people for walking indecisively between two cults. After challenging the prophets of Baal to invoke their sons through the religious gymnastics of collective ecstasy, Elijah shows them that Yahweh is more powerful. The repugnance caused to the prophets of Yahweh by the Canaanite ecstasy becomes explicit in the words of Isaiah: "Prophets and priests stagger stunned by the wine ... because all the tables are full and there is no free space in them" - Is 28.7-. Heirs of this feeling of aversion, the Fathers of the Church opposed the use of SPA ', identifying the cultic drunkenness with concupiscence and sin. Unlike the officiating of Elyosis and other ecstatic cults that existed in the Mediterranean basin until late antiquity, Hebrew rabbis and Christian priests exhibit a professional sobriety that excludes any hallucinatory trance. Catholic dogma replaces the experience intoxicated by a profession of faith.
An objective definition of the word drug is impossible, since it is not a concept but a slogan whose social value is given by its capacity to embody and canonize evil. As it is impossible to speak of the prayers without invoking their destructive power, we will alternatively use the term psychoactive substance to refer to the chemical mediators between the brain and culture, consume to modify our perception of the world. A similar process was experienced in the Persian tradition with the condemnation of the soma of Zoroaster (McKENNA, T .. The delicacy of -the gods, Barcelona, ​​Paidós, 131). Escohotado speaks of an "entheogenic promise betrayed" (Escohotado, A., History of drugs, Madrid, Editorial Alliance, 1989, T. I, p 235).
However, many centuries will pass before the moral prohibition takes the form of a world war to modify the wishes of citizens and ensure that sobriety is imposed jealously in both the public and private spheres. For notwithstanding the religious restrictions that Judeo-Christianity imposes on the use of SPA since its inception, only in the 20th century will the Puritan crusade of the nascent American empire succeed in making moral interdiction a legal interdiction. driven by a brotherhood of abstainers who resort to political power to impose a holy war on society. It ends with a long tradition of tolerance against the consumption of SPA that was maintained until the end of the nineteenth century, a time of transition to the modern industrial society in which the self-regulated use of opium derivatives begins to be displaced by mass consumerism. From Galen the Europeans used opium generously, following the Roman tradition that left the consumption of the psychoactive to the free choice of the individual. Used as a remedy for lung and intestinal diseases, to calm anxiety, the symptoms of gout, toothaches or discomfort of piles, its effects were interpreted in the framework of a battle between the substance and the body of the patient. user, who should be careful with the dose he took to avoid annoying rebound symptoms. But leaving the medical uses in the background, appeared at the dawn of modernity a group of habitual consumers who claimed the benefits that accompany the chemical modification introducing themselves
Translated from "La fruta prohibida" by Luis Carlos Restrepo

Coca and cocaine

Coca is not a drug, it’s food.

Coca, scientifically known as Erythroxylon Coca is a medicinal and ceremonial plant traditionally used by Andean cultures.

It is a medium height bush that grows in hot, humid climates on the lower slopes of mountains. Since ancient times coca leaves were, and still are, used due to its medicinal and ritual purposes. They are chewed, ingested or prepared in infusion.

Coca leaves are actually an essential dietary supplement in the social and ecological conditions of the Andes. They contain a considerable proportion of the requirements of vitamins and minerals. They also supress hunger, improving life in the jungle and mountain environments where the availability of protein may be limited by local or seasonal factors. Another property of coca, related to its alkaloid content is its stimulating effect, it also facilitates  efforts in conditions of the low oxygen content of the mountain heights.

Coca leaf tea or «mate de coca» is also consumed in Peru and Bolivia to relieve altitude sickness or «altitude sickness» and as a digestive. The medicinal properties of coca resemble to some extent the Mapuche “boldo”.

During colonial times, Spanish authorities used these stimulant and appetite suppressant properties of coca to improve workers performance in the difficult silver miners conditions.

Coca trade provided considerable income to the colonial authorities. In 1583 more than one millon kilos of coca leaves were brought to the mines of Upper Peru.

Coca alkaloids

Coca contains numerous alkaloids which give its known therapeutic properties. The best known alcaloid is cocaine that has stimulant and digestive effects. Other alkaloids contained in coca include atropine, egnomina, the pecticina, papain, hygrine, globulin, quinoline, conina, cocamine, reserpine, benzoin, inulin and pyridina.

Cocaine

Cocaine is structurally to Solanaceae alkaloids such as belladonna, henbane, mandragora and datura.

Its usual formula is cocaine hydrochloride, and apparently,it prevents the absorption of certain transmitters that have been released by other means.

Minimum active dose of nasal application is about 20-30 mg while the lethal dose is 1 to 1.5 grams. It has a high tolerance and some people have ingested 4-5 grams daily without lethal effects.

This alkaloid was first isolated in 1859 by Florentine researcher Paolo Mantegaza and Austrian Karl Cherence.

In those days it was considered as an almost miraculous substance.

It was at this time that Dr Frances Angelo Mariani visiting Potosí, Bolivia, observed the natives chewing coca and upon his return to France developed a product which he called Mariani Wine. This “wine” was sold with great success.

In the late nineteenth century, coca and cocaine became popular and prestigious European intellectuals and professional classes became regular consumers.

Sigmond Freud himself stated:

“At present it is impossible to assess with certainty the extent to which coca can potentially increase human mental powers. I have the impression that prolonged use of cocaine can lead to a lasting improvement if the inhibitions expressed before it is consumed only to be physical causes or exhaustion. Of course, the instantaneous effect of a dose of cocaine can not be compared with an injection of morphine; But from the positive point of view, there is no danger of damage to the body generally as is the case with chronic use of morphine."

Then Freud himself would deny such early claims.

Enthusiasm generated by coca and cocaine in Western society led to their use in medicine and to the preparation of various elixirs which achieved wide acceptance.

This habit spread among the population and markets for cocaine expanded.

When the prohibitionist ideology succeeded en the United States. and arguing that cocaine had addictive character and that was potentially harmful (with prolonged administration in high doses) a political movement proposing its banning developed.

In 1906, through the Poor Food and Drug Act, this alkaloid, as well as heroin, were banned in the United States.

It was the beginning of a process that would continue throughout the century.

Despite its illegality, cocaine consumption gradually spread. As a result, coca cultivation in their areas of origin as well as clandestine laboratories for the manufacture of cocaine grew in many Latin American countries. Simultaneously transportation networks for its distribution were organized. The highly unsuccessful war on cocaine had started.

Coca derivatives

Coca leaves are usuallty processed though stepping and maceration with kerosene. Then the dry mixture is dilluted in sulfuric acid achieving a first product commonly called «coca paste» (PBC). This paste is purified by washing, particularly with ether, hydrochloric acid and acetone until obtaining cocaine hydrochloride which is the main product smuggled and commercialized in consumer countries..

Cocaine is a tropane related to Solanaceae alkaloids related (nightshade, henbane, mandragora, etc). In its usual form it is not affected by changes in temperature orlight, but requires dry environments.

It is a substance with relatively high tolerance that generates little addiction. For the nasal route the minimum active dose is about 20 to 30 milligrams, while the lethal dose is 1 to 1.5 grams.

Cocaine administered by this route has strong stimulant effects. It generates « a permanent activity without fatigue, verve and brilliance in social life, exalted and megalomania ego foolproof, attitudes preferred by executives and risk takers searches risks which is sold as a model advertising the contemporary society»

The Coca plant
Coca is not a drug, it’s food.  

Coca, scientifically known as Erythroxylon Coca  is a medicinal and ceremonial plant traditionally used by Andean cultures.
It is a medium height bush that grows in hot, humid climates on the lower slopes of mountains. Since ancient times coca leaves were, and still are, used due to its medicinal and ritual purposes. They are chewed, ingested or prepared in infusion. 
Coca leaves are actually an essential dietary supplement in the social and ecological conditions of the Andes. They contain a considerable proportion of the requirements of vitamins and minerals.  They also supress hunger, improving life in the jungle and mountain environments where the availability of protein may be limited by local or seasonal factors. Another property of coca, related to its alkaloid content is its stimulating effect, it also facilitates efforts in conditions of the  low oxygen content of the mountain heights.

Coca leaf tea or «mate de coca» is also consumed in Peru and Bolivia to relieve altitude sickness or «altitude sickness» and as a digestive. The medicinal properties of coca resemble to some extent the Mapuche “boldo”.
During colonial times, Spanish authorities used these stimulant and appetite suppressant properties of coca to improve workers performance in the difficult silver miners conditions.
 Coca trade provided considerable income to the colonial authorities. In 1583 more than one millon kilos of coca leaves were brought to the mines of Upper Peru.  
Pictures taken by the author in the Chapare region of Cochabamba.

Coca alkaloids

Coca contains numerous alkaloids which give its known therapeutic properties.
The best known alcaloid is cocaine that has stimulant and digestive effects. Other alkaloids contained in coca include atropine, egnomina, the pecticina, papain, hygrine, globulin, quinoline, conina, cocamine, reserpine, benzoin, inulin and pyridina. Its properties are described in Table 3.2.

Cocaine

Cocaine is structurally to Solanaceae alkaloids such as belladonna, henbane, mandrake and satura. 
Its usual formula is cocaine hydrochloride, and apparently,it prevents the absorption of certain transmitters that have been released by other means. 
 Minimum active dose of nasal application is about 20-30 mg while the lethal dose is 1 to 1.5 grams.  It has a high tolerance and some people have ingested 4-5 grams daily without lethal effects.
This alkaloid was first isolated in 1859 by Florentine Paolo Mantegaza researcher and Austrian Karl Cherence of Austria.
In those days it was considered as an almost miraculous substance.
It was at this time that Dr Frances Angelo Mariani visiting Potosí, Bolivia, observed the natives chewing coca and upon his return to France developed a product which he called Mariani Wine. This “wine” was sold with great success.
In the late nineteenth century, coca and cocaine became popular and prestigious European intellectuals and professional classes became regular consumers..
Sigmond Freud himself stated:
At present it is impossible to assess with certainty the extent to which coca can potentially increase human mental powers.
I have the impression that prolonged use of cocaine can lead to a lasting improvement if the inhibitions expressed before it is consumed only to be physical causes or exhaustion. Of course, the instantaneous effect of a dose of cocaine can not be compared with an injection of morphine; But from the positive point of view, there is no danger of damage to the body generally as is the case with chronic use of morphine. 10   .
Then Freud himself would deny such early claims.
Enthusiasm generated by coca and cocaine in Western society led to their use in medicine and to the preparation of various elixirs which achieved wide acceptance. This habit spread among the population and markets for cocaine expanded.
When the prohibitionist ideology succeeded en the United States. and arguing that cocaine had addictive character and that was potentially harmful (with prolonged administration in high doses) a political movement proposing its banning developed.
In 1906, through the Poor Food and Drug Act, this alkaloid, as well as heroin  poppy, were banned in the United States.
It was the bãeginning of a process that would continue throughout the century. Despite its illegality, cocaine consumption gradually spread. As a result, coca cultivation in their areas of origin as well as clandestine laboratories for the manufacture of cocaine grew in many Latin American countries. Simultaneously  transportation networks for its distribution were organized. The highly unsuccessful war on cocaine had started.
From: "Peoples, Drugs and Serpents", Danilo Anton, Piriguazú Ediciones.

Substances adapted to the competitive capitalist system

Danilo Anton

Snorting cocaine in powder form gives a sense of euphoria and strength. It is a substance with which “the coward become brave and the silent eloquent” at the same time providing “happiness” 1 to its consumers.
 When cocaine is taken simultaneously with alcohol increased stimulation is obtained. 
Cocaine serves to neutralize any negative effects of alcohol, but does not diminish their properties of intensifying social life.
The liquor can go from a competitive to a friendly attitude while cocaine provides a dose of energy and security leading to behaviors of self-confidence and euphoria. For that reason both intoxicants are so prevalent in the “executive parties” of the central capitalist society.
It should be noted that the combination of alcohol and cocaine in high doses consumed frequently has negative effects on the body, which in some cases can seriously affect the health, and even, in extreme situations, result in death.
Despite these obvious dangers, the ruling elites of capitalism insist to continue this life full of stress, speed and frivolities.
Cocaine, alcohol, and some “designer drugs” with similar properties, play the role of artificially keeping these pathological existential ways of life.
It is alarming that it is precisely these alienated individuals who have the prevalent authority to make decisions about the world political and economic directions. The long term outlook does not seem be very bright..
 From "Peoples, Drugs and Serpents",  Danilo Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones

Canada Legalizes Medicinal Cocaine

About two years ago Canada approved the legalization of medicinal cocaine.  Justin Trudeau, who was one of the proponents of the Drug Policy Modernization Act (DPMA) now is the Prime Minister of Canada and will promote the legalization of medicinal cannabis and cocaine, and probably also their controlled consumption.  These are small steps to eliminate the harmful prohibitionist policies that have been irrationally implemented worldwide.  D.A.

This note was published in  The Daily Currant on January 6, 2014. 

FacebookT
Canada Legalizes Medicinal Cocaineitter

Canada became the first Western country to legalize the medicinal use of cocaine today.

In a close 158-150 vote the House of Commons passed the Drug Policy Modernization Act (DPMA) ,which allows doctors to prescribe the drug to treat various medical ailments.

The Public Health Agency of Canada recommended passage of the bill, arguing that cocaine has a long tradition of medical use that modern science has unfairly ignored. It especially made the case that the powerful stimulant is useful for treating mental health disorders.

“Depression is no match for cocaine,"says Minister of Health Rona Ambrose. "A few milligrams can help overcome the lows in an individual's daily life. We also find cocaine works twice as effectively as mainstream pharmaceutical drugs in treating ADHD.

“Obviously, it also helps enormously with glaucoma, back pain, acne and plenty of other everyday health issues. A patient will have to see his or her doctor to get the prescription. The dosage reevaluated each month so the patient’s health can be monitored. The process will be very professional.”
Good Powder

Canada has long been known for its progressive drug policy, with the country pioneering medical marijuana and needle exchange programs in the 2000s.

However, in recent years the nation has fallen behind countries like Uruguay and U.S. states like Washington and Colorado, which have all fully legalized cannabis for recreational use.

"This puts us back on the map," says Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, who supported the government's legislation. "We used to be the coolest place in North America. But nowadays if you want to get loaded and go skiing you go to Aspen, not Whistler. That needs to change."

Canadian citizens have mixed opinions on the legislation, however.  “I don’t know what to think about it yet. We’ll have to see what happens. All I know is we have the best democracy in the world and the people wanted it,” said Greg Clarke, self proclaimed sixth cousin to National Hockey League Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke.

Winnipeg Police Chief Devon Clunis told the Winnipeg Sun that his police force will be prepared.

“We expect a little more fist fights but more focused drinking," he said. "We can handle it.”

With the average winter temperature in Winnipeg being −20 °C (−5 °F) the Chief is also excited to have a cocaine prescription during the cold, dark, and long winter months. “A little pick-me up in the morning is just what the doctor ordered.”

For popular travel destination cities like Montreal they plan on seeing a boost in tourism.

“We imagine more U.S. teenagers traveling to Canada. They already come up to enjoy our legal drinking age ranging 18-19 years, not like the conservative twenty-one in the States,” said the head of the Canadian Tourism Commission, Greg Klassen. “We predict an increase in hotel stays and bar revenue. We might see a slight slip in restaurant revenue because we all know it’s hard to do blow and then eat.”

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, for his part, lauded passage of the bill.

“Now people can get off my fat stinking ass,” he proclaimed to a crowded food court at the Eaton Centre. "Obesity is a disease and cocaine is the cure."
Blame Canada...

Canada's move to legalize cocaine is in direct violation of its commitments under United Nations drug control treaties, and will likely upset nations still committed to the failed War on Drugs.

“We don’t know what the hell the Canucks are thinking,"  House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters from ABC News. "How can they think legalizing cocaine is going to help anything? Medicinal? Give me a break. Maybe they're just angry that all their hockey teams are dog-shit recently. Up really is down and down is up in Canada.”

There is also mounting concern from the U.S. Border Patrol about trafficking into the U.S.

“We already have tons of marijuana coming down from Canada every day. We don’t want to see more coke coming this way. We didn’t let Mexico pass any real drug reform laws, so I don’t see why we can’t bully Canada the same way,” said Border Patrol Agent Dolph Ziggler.

“It’s about protecting our children. Let them stick to Adderall and Ritalin,” adds Betty S. Sembler, chairwoman of Drug Free America “We will fight tooth and nail to have the law reversed. Think of the children, think of the goddamn children!”
http://dailycurrant.com/2014/01/06/canada-legalizes-medicinal-cocaine-3/
For more information we reccommend the book "Peoples, Drugs and Serpents", D.Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones.