The plants are banned in the U. In the meantime, check out the history behind the plant. Because you never know where your next trip to Peru or Colombia will take you. Leaves obviously from the flowering coca plant, which grows as both trees and shrubs.
They look like any unkempt bush near a Walmart parking lot. Aside from the production of cocaine, South Americans enjoy chewing the leaves and using them for tea. The part played by the alkaline substances at this histic stage has still not been determined, although it is thought that such substances increase the stimulating effect of cocaine on the nerves, a view which is supported by the following facts: 1 cocaine in its basic form is most soluble in fats, and the nervous system is largely composed of fats; 2 basic cocaine is charged with positive electricity, its micelles or ions being absorbed by the negative charges in the nervous system; 3 the potassium salts contained in the alkaline substances employed with chewing facilitate the penetration of basic cocaine into the nervous tissue by increasing the permeability of the lipoid layer to water; and 4 the alkaline substances, in producing a non-acid pH, prevent the hydrolysis of the cocaine and facilitate its action.
Coca addicts usually begin to form the habit after leaving school, between the ages of 12 and It should be said that in spite of the marked differences between the coca-chewing habit and cocaine addiction, they have nevertheless certain points in common.
In both cases cocaine is responsible for the principal effects. It has been shown that the ease and intensity with which addiction to a drug is established largely depends on the method of administration adopted, the intravenous method being most effective, with the subcutaneous and oral methods coming next in order. In coca-leaf chewers, the cocaine penetrates the organism by this last means and in doses smaller than those used by cocaine addicts.
It is for this reason that coca chewing is not accompanied by the startling toxic features so frequent among those addicted to cocaine, and that its effects are much slower and essentially chronic.
The symptoms of addiction to cocaine are therefore relatively weak, a circumstance which enables the individual concerned to give up the drug with ease. Difficulties are encountered and moderate abstinence symptoms appear only in the case of coca addicts who consume more than or grammes of coca a day. The cocaine habit starts much more easily, as has been experimentally demonstrated with dogs.
The first to produce experimental addiction to cocaine were Tatum and Seevers. It has also been shown in the case of these animals that cocaine does not induce tolerance, but, on the contrary, phenomena of increased sensitivity. Thus, during a course of treatment with cocaine, it is almost impossible to increase the initial dose; and on the contrary, as the experiment proceeds, the reactions produced by the same dose of cocaine become stronger until the day arrives when marked toxic phenomena are displayed and may result in the animal's death.
We have called this phenomenon increased sensitivity as opposed to tolerance, which is a characteristic of morphine, a drug the doses of which must be increased in order to obtain effects equal to those produced by the small initial dose. Tolerance of cocaine does not occur in human beings either, and most coca addicts take practically the same dose of coca throughout their lives.
The effects of coca on the individual are various, but among them may be distinguished physiological and psychological effect's, both acute and chronic. The acute physiological manifestations are not of great importance and are characterized by tachycardia, a slight increase in arterial pressure and body temperature, a somewhat accelerated respiratory movement, the intensification of tendinous reflexes, modification of the neuro-vegetal reflexes, increased basal metabolism and delayed reaction to auditory stimuli.
The chronic effects of addiction to coca and malnutrition among the chewers lead to a general weakening of the system, and consequently the stimulating effect of coca hardly ever produces in the chewer an output of labour greater than that to be observed in persons not addicted to the drug but receiving proper food.
Studies now being conducted by Dr. Santiago Valdizan and to be published shortly in their entirety show that coca addicts, even when under the stimulating influence of coca, display, together with a reduced liabil ity to fatigue, a lower output of physical labour as compared with persons who are not habituated.
The number of taps is recorded by means of an electric register in periods of twenty seconds for a total duration of two minutes, and the total thus obtained constitutes the output of the person being tested. Comparison of the values obtained for the six periods of twenty seconds establishes the extent to which the person being tested is subject to fatigue.
As may be seen, the difference in output for the first and last periods of twenty seconds is This indicates a lesser inclination to fatigue among the latter while they are under the stimulating influence of the drug.
Observations made by the author in the Sierra with the Smedley dynamometer show that the average strength values of the coca addicts varied between 28 and 32 kilogrammetres, while similar experiments conducted with Lima medical students yielded average values of between 40 and 45 kilogrammetres.
If we remember that in the case of the chewers the experiment was conducted while they were under the stimulating influence of coca and that they were persons who by reason of their occupation should have been better capable of muscular effort, we are surprised by the low indices obtained as compared with those for the group of students, who, apart from not being under the influence of any drug, were persons whose work was essentially intellectual.
As we shall see, the difference is due principally to the fact that the student group was well nourished while the chewers lived on diets deficient both as to quality and quantity.
So far as concerns the chronic physiopathological manifestations including not only those acquired during the individual's lifetime but also inherited ones , it is very difficult to say exactly to what extent they are the exclusive result of coca chewing. The difficulty of defining them is increased by the effects of alcoholism, under-nourishment and the generally unsatisfactory health conditions under which the coca addicts lived.
In any case, the ill-health of the chewers is an easily demonstrable fact, for many of them have chronic diseases, and some show signs of degeneration. Everything points to the conclusion that the constant toxic condition produced by coca results in acceptance of the most wretched living conditions, which are the chief cause of the chewers' deficiencies; and coca is therefore regarded as primarily responsible.
No less important than the physiological changes are the psychological modifications which coca produces. The acute effects on mental activity are various. Large doses of coca produce changes in thinking, effectiveness, perception, etc.
The chronic psychological changes are those which are of greatest interest and to which particular attention has been devoted. The intelligence rating as determinated by the Binet-Simon test shows very low indices not exceeding 90 per cent.
In most cases the indices are between 50 and 70 per cent. In order to eliminate possible errors arising from any misunderstanding of the questions which might be caused by the fact that many of the cocaine addicts have an insufficient knowledge of Spanish, an interpreter was always available.
For the same reason, use was made of the "non-language multimental test of Terman, McCall and Lorge", and the Porteus labyrinth test, because these are tests in which words are not employed. The results obtained from the Terman test were discouraging and apparently contradictory. The intelligence coefficients were much lower than those obtained from the Binet-Simon test. We attribute these results to the fact that the Terman test consists of series of shapes the selection of which requires the exercise of abstract thought more often than in the case of the other tests.
In this kind of mental ability the coca addicts display a marked deficiency. Though still sub-normal, the results yielded by the Porteus labyrinth test were somewhat better than those obtained from the Binet-Simon test. In addition, use was made of the Rorschach test which confirmed the results obtained from the other tests. A very interesting and revealing phenomenon is disclosed by an examination of intelligence coefficients and the length of addiction to coca.
There is a close relation between these factors, the duration of addiction being in direct ratio to the mental age and vice versa, a circumstance which clearly shows the important part played by coca in the process of mental deterioration displayed by coca addicts.
Mental deficiencies begin as soon as addiction to coca starts, and increase as addiction continues. According to information supplied by schoolmasters in the sierra, the mental development of children who are addicted to coca shows a backwardness which can almost be made good when the chewing habit is overcome.
It is undeniable that other factors may have an adverse effect on mental development, such as education, language, geographic and social isolation, economic hardship, heredity, alcoholism, nutritional deficiencies, etc.
In a previous publication we studied in detail the part played by each of these factors in the coca addict's mental backwardness, and we believe that those factors are of secondary importance. It is probably true to say that coca is in turn responsible for some of the factors mentioned above, and that in this way it acts on the intelligence both directly and indirectly.
Also revealing are the relations between the duration of addiction to coca on the one hand, and illiteracy and resistance to learning Spanish on the other hand. Thus, persons who have been addicted to coca for many years are almost all illiterate and the language they speak is predominantly the vernacular.
In the departments of the southern sierra, where the consumption of coca is greatest, the percentage of illiteracy is high, and Quechua and Aymara are the prevailing languages. Coca also has an adverse effect on the power of concentration. As determined by the Hamburgo test, the power of concentration among coca addicts bears a relationship to the duration of addiction to coca, the power of concentration being less among inveterate coca addicts than among those who have been addicted for only a short time.
The personality of coca addicts was studied by means of the Rorschach test, and it was found that the neutral type predominated at any rate amongst inveterate chewers. Such addicts are apathetic, hypo-affective, indolent, deficient in higher mental activity and subjective life. Why is cocaine and drugs eradication not working? The period of 25 years as deadline for the ultimate extinction coca set in Single Convention has clearly not been met.
In , at the UN General Assembly Special Session on drugs UNGASS , ignoring decades of lack of success in addressing the issue of illicit crops, set the year as yet another deadline by which to eliminate or significantly reduce coca, opium and cannabis.
That target has not been met either. A Report on Global Illicit Drugs Markets , commissioned by the European Commission, found no evidence that the global drug problem has been reduced. The global number of users of cocaine expanded over the period. Wholesale and retail prices show a downward trend while purity is rising, which means there is no shortage on the market.
The basic presumption underlying forced eradication is that one can intervene in the workings of the illicit market, and substantially alter the demand-supply equation by simply cutting down the latter. On a purely hypothetical level this presumption holds some truth: if there is less available, less can be consumed. In the case of Bolivia, Colombia and Peru, the Andean and Amazon regions are an inexhaustible potential growing area, and there are dramatic numbers of impoverished and internally displaced people desperate enough to do anything to survive.
There is an astonishing lack of sound argumentation about the consequences and impact of policy interventions on the illicit market. If price and purity developments are a useful indicator of drug availability, there is no data to suggest that eradication efforts and the many seizures of shipments have ever reduced availability on the consumption markets.
The control efforts seem, rather, to have contributed to increased production to balance the losses. What other ways are there to tackle cocaine use? Cocaine-related problems should be kept in perspective. Use of cocaine leads to feelings of enhanced energy and may lead to greater stamina, confidence and creativity. Health problems from the use of legal substances, particularly alcohol and tobacco, are greater than health problems from cocaine use.
Cocaine-related problems are more common for intensive, high-dosage users and either unknown or very rare for occasional, low-dosage users.
Cocaine use should be treated by providing correct information on its health effects and addictive qualities, not by incarcerating users. First and foremost, an evidence-based health based approach should be given priority over law enforcement. Comprehensive treatment strategies should be available at all times.
A clear distinction needs to be made between recreational use and problematic use of cocaine. Prevention, treatment and health care measures should focus on problematic use. Harm reduction measures should be developed according to local circumstances and applied to the most problematic users, particularly those using smokable cocaine base paste PBC, paco, bazuco or crack in Latin America , which is harmful and highly addictive.
Harm reduction measures could include dispensing condoms, pipes, pipe stems, tissues, vaseline and lip balm to counter infections and sexually transmitted illnesses, and should provide information about preventing unsafe crack smoking habits. Comprehensive strategies with community participation should create mechanisms for social inclusion. A possible strategy is to set up user rooms with medical supervision, including the introduction of marijuana substitution treatment, to ease withdrawal symptoms.
These strategies, combined with social projects for homeless people, could help reduce the high mortality rate among crack users and the violence associated with use and dealing.
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