Coca

Through my constant curiosity regarding psychoactive substances I came across a sample of raw unprocessed Coca leaves about a year ago. I had read a little on their effects and that even though they did contain the incredibly destructive drug cocaine the effects of the leaves were not in any way harmful or addictive.

In fact, the very method of ingestion by either drinking tea or chewing the leaves "is self-regulating ... it does not strike the pleasure centers of the hypothalamus nor cause the resulting compulsive search of pleasure as we will see in the analysis of dependence."

There is no way to ingest enough leaves to cause a "coke rush" due to physical limitations of bodies, ie not being able to fit more than 10 grams of leaves into your cheek to chew at any one time. However, of course clever western scientists developed ways to isolate the cocaine alkaloid by using an enormous amount of raw leaves as seen in this video of contemporary cocaine extraction in Columbia.

It is important to understand that to make the drug cocaine you must extract "truckloads of coca leaves ... into an amount of white powder that would fit into a measuring cup." Imagine doing the same procedure with a truckload of coffee, wouldn't that much concentrated caffiene be potentially lethal as well? Of course it would. Toxicity is not entirely dependent of the compound but rather tied closely to dosage or quantity of the substance which is ingested. Enough water, the basic building block of all life, can be toxic if ingested in large enough quantities.

So dangers aside, what are the effects and benefits of using these leaves?

To understand the effects you have to know the compounds you are dealing with. Within the Coca leaves there are 14 alkaloids which combine synergistically to produce their effects.

These 14 compounds are:

Cocaine - Stimulating, euphoric, painkiller
Ecgonine - Gives stamina and regulates the burning of carbohydrates and increases fat burning
Quinoline - Prevents from caries and strengthens the gum
Globuline - Stimulates blood circulation, against altitude sickness and low blood pressure
Papaine - Promotes digestion, good for skin
Pectine - Anti diarrhea, absorption of poison
Reserpine - Against high blood pressure
Benzoine - Anti ferment, good for skin, mouth, colon
Atropine - Drys up saliva glands, relaxes muscle
Hygrine - Stimulates salival gland
Pyridine - Stimulates blood circulation, improves the oxygen absorption of brain and muscles.
Conine - Local anesthesia.
Inuline - Improves the production of hemoglobin
Cocamine - Analgetic painkiller, blocks only pain other sensations remain intact.



So, as you can see the compounds are diverse and beneficial with Cocaine only playing a small part overall.

The effects of chewing the leaves is best summarized by the website www.cocabonsai.nl:

"[The leaves] perk you up & gives you a bit of energy & clear-headedness, a bit like coffee, but totally devoid of the caffeine jitters. Unlike coffee, however, it actually acts as a very mild tranquilizer at the same time. Too much caffeine makes you feel over-stimulated, which is not a very good feeling. Chewing coca, on the other hand, is actually very soothing. So is it a "stimulant" or a "tranquilizer"? I don't know. Maybe both. The effect is actually sort of hypnotic. It gives you a feeling of well-being and contentedness, & lets you concentrate."

I personally have never felt any sort of negative come down after the effects wear off as it the case with caffeine and nearly every other stimulant I've tried. If I were asked to describe how I feel in one word, I would have to say, "healthy."

And with that, on to the health benefits.

A study published in 1975 by Harvard University evaluated the nutritional content in a study that compared Coca with 10 grains, 10 fruits & vegetables had the following findings:

- Contains more proteins (19.9%) than meat (19.4%)
- Far more Calcium (2,191%) than condensed milk
- Richer in Vitamin B-1 (276%) than fresh carrots
- Satisfied dietary allowance for Calcium, Iron, Phosphorous, Vitamin A, B and E

So in a nutritional sense alone these leaves are extremely beneficial. That is not all of the benefits however. Coca has been used as a traditional and very effective remedy for the following ailments:

- Altitude or mountain sickness
- Stress (excellent!!)
- Treating gastrointestinal disorders
- Alleviating irritation and infection of the vocal cords and larynx
- Preventing vertigo
- Regulating arterial pressure and the metabolism of carbohydrates
- Alleviating diarrhea
- Improving sexual prowess.
- Relieving colds, bruises, sore joints, muscles
- Swollen feet and headaches


In summary, I believe that leaves of the Coca plant are beneficial when used in their natural unprocessed form. The fact is Coca is a schedule I drug in Canada and most of the western world. One must consider that many substances are typically hidden from the public eye by either law enforcement/propaganda there are many which could provide great benefit to a stressed out and overworked nation tweaking out on artificial stimulants and Starbucks coffees.

I encourage everyone who reads this to do some research of their own and further spread the knowledge of this medicinal plant while working to reverse the insane idealizations of a unjust prohibitionist era. I present to you some of the resources I have acquired in my research:

CocaMama
CocaShop
CocaGrowers
Bolivain Coca Museum