The+Coca+Leaf's+Impact+Upon+the+Americas

**The Coca Leaf's Impact Upon the Americas** **by James Krolopp **

The coca leaf has been used by the Quecha and Aymara tribes since 3,000 B.C. for cultural, religious and medicinal purposes. From then on the leaf imbedded itself into Bolivian and other Latin American cultures, with many considering it their ‘sacred leaf’. These Latin American countries have cultivated and consumed the coca leaf longer than most countries have ever existed, but now the leaf is faced with eradication due to the it’s stimulating and addictive properties along with the improper usage by non-natives. The United Sates have dumped millions of dollars into stopping the drug trade into their own country. This includes trying to prohibit the influx of cocaine into the U.S. by cutting off its source, the South American coca fields. The U.S. and the United Nations have made assertions and taken action to stop the cocaine production, expecting South American backing. Despite cocaine being blamed for these countries high violence and crime rates, the Latin American nations still stand to defend the cultivation of the leaf, stating that it is part of their culture and vital to their economy.

**Impact Upon Culture** The Andean region of South America has chewed and steeped the coca leave to cure everything from toothaches to altitude sickness, not to mention its roots in religious ceremonies. It has also been known to have significant amounts of nutrients, more than many of the food crops grown in the Andes. Many natives mix the leave with a basic substance, such as a crushed shell, to access more of the plants psychoactive effects allowing them to work longer in the fields or decrease hunger and thirst during famines or droughts. To this day many native Andeans still practice the chewing and steeping the leave with no hazardous side effects. Though this innocent leaf changed part of its identity when in 1860 a German chemist isolated the chemical in charge of the leave’s psychoactive effects, cocaine. From then on, cocaine grew in popularity claiming to be the wonder drug and started a gold rush for drug pushers, junkies and South American coca farmers. Almost every nation in the Americas now has some role in the drug trade, whether it is consumers and sellers in the U.S., drug traffickers in Mexico or cultivators in Bolivia and other Latin American countries, every nation has gotten their hands dirty. Now the U.S. and United Nations are trying to stop this trade by exterminating the source of the cocaine but these coca leaves have proven not just a plant, but a sacred leaf and cultural icon for many of the growers and natives in the region.

**Impact Upon the Economy** The coca leaf is not only a part of the South American culture but it is also vital to their economy. Many Latin American countries now generate more profit from the cultivation of the coca leaf than from any other single legal commodity they produce. These countries are dependent on upon the leaf for financial support just like the Middle Eastern economies depend upon oil. In fact, Bolivia during the 1980’s was generating $600 million annually for the sale of coca alone while the nation’s legal exports only grossed $400 million, one third less than the coca leaf. The cultivation of coca leaves also helped decrease the unemployment rate in Bolivia after the change in economic policy. Bolivia was faced with hyperinflation in the 1980’s. This led the government to cut government spending substantially, closing down many of Bolivia’s mines and inevitable spiking the unemployment rate. Out of work in a down economy many former miners took up the cultivation of coca leaves. This was a very lucrative business due to the high demand for coca leaves in Latin America and elsewhere. This only increased the U.S. effort in stopping the coca leaf cultivation but Bolivia sought to decriminalize the leaf and dissociate the native uses of the leaf from the outside world’s use of cocaine.

The Bolivian President, Evo Morales defended the coca leaf saying "it was their indigenous right to chew the coca leaf" and Bolivia was going to keep that right no matter how much the U.S. or United Nations pressured. People often get the coca leaf mixed up with cocaine and the coca leaf producer with drug traffickers. The coca leaf has been imbedded in cultures, like Bolivia, before many other countries were even around. It has cured ailments and been involved in religious ceremonies but it has also kept Latin American economies alive. Yes, cocaine comes from coca but it is seen that the natives have had complete control of the leaf without refining it. Other nations have isolated the leaves compounds and abused its power to bring about their own drug problems. The U.S. and United Nations are now trying to impose their troubles upon these coca-growing countries and blame them for their own misuse of the leaf. There is a problem with the abuse of coca leaf and something needs to be done, but eradicating a cultural icon, religious symbol and economic asset is unjust and these Latin American countries should not be at fault for the other nations abuse. media type="youtube" key="mr0gcDIUugs" height="315" width="560" Bibliography

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