Grow Cocaine
Grow cocaine
The indigenous people of the Andean mountain range have been chewing the leaves of the coca plant for millenia. Archaeological evidence indicates that Peruvians were chewing coca as early as 1800 B.C. Ancient sculptures show the heads of warriors with the characteristic “bulge” in the cheek, depicting coca chewing. The coca plant was one of the first cultivated and domesticated plants in the New World. In certain parts of south America, the coca plant still plays an important role in everyday life. There are some remote parts of countries such as Columbia and Bolivia where coca paste is still used as a money commodity.
Coca’s turning point in Europe came in 1860 when Albert Niemann extracted pure cocaine powder from coca leaves. American physicians learned of the pharmacological possibilities of coca and cocaine in the late 1870s and early 1880s. Articles in medical journals recommended cocaine as an all-purpose stimulant, a cure for depression, a specific for hay fever and asthma and other conditions. Especially encouraging were reports that the new drug was useful in treating alcoholism and opiate addiction, then widespread problems. Freud was a fervent supporter of the use of cocaine as an anti-depressant, even publishing a manuscript detailing its virtues. Freud began experimenting with cocaine around this time, consuming small quantities to combat depression, sharing his experience with other European physicians who also found cocaine to be an effective topical anesthetic.
This refinement allowed the use of cocaine in many different medicinal products and beverages, most notably Coca-Cola and Vin Mariani. Conan Doyle stood alone in the late 19th century depicting the destructive qualities of cocaine in his consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes. As years went by and cocaine’s popularity increased, health risks were noted and seized upon by American legislators, who made the substance all but illegal in 1916.
Within the United States the growing consumption of cocaine and drug related violence in the early 1980s were defined as a threat to national security. President Ronald Reagan declared his war on drugs that contemplated the elimination of cocaine production at the source by the utilization of the local armed forces. Unfortunately, this was a rather short-sighted attempt at controlling a problem that persisted through the co-existence of counter-veiling factors.
First of all, despite efforts to persuade coca farmers otherwise, coca is the most cost-effective agricultural product for poor peasants.
Secondly, the very nature of the governmental structures in countries like Peru and Bolivia help perpetuate coca cultivation. A poor economy breeds officials who are easily bribed. Dissatisfaction with both the government and corrupt police has created a vacuum for guerrilla groups, like the Shining Path in Peru, to support and protect peasants while taking a cut of the coca sales. These are obviously just the tip of the iceberg. The plethora of issues supporting the cocaine production and distribution process at all levels is complicated. Reagan’s failure in the war against drugs and related crime activities is so great that drugs were the number one issue in the 1988 presidential campaign.
The indigenous people of the Andean mountain range have been chewing the leaves of the coca plant for millenia. Archaeological evidence indicates that Peruvians were chewing coca as early as 1800 B.C. Ancient sculptures show the heads of warriors with the characteristic “bulge” in the cheek, depicting coca chewing. The coca plant was one of the first cultivated and domesticated plants in the New World. In certain parts of south America, the coca plant still plays an important role in everyday life. There are some remote parts of countries such as Columbia and Bolivia where coca paste is still used as a money commodity.
Coca’s turning point in Europe came in 1860 when Albert Niemann extracted pure cocaine powder from coca leaves. American physicians learned of the pharmacological possibilities of coca and cocaine in the late 1870s and early 1880s. Articles in medical journals recommended cocaine as an all-purpose stimulant, a cure for depression, a specific for hay fever and asthma and other conditions. Especially encouraging were reports that the new drug was useful in treating alcoholism and opiate addiction, then widespread problems. Freud was a fervent supporter of the use of cocaine as an anti-depressant, even publishing a manuscript detailing its virtues. Freud began experimenting with cocaine around this time, consuming small quantities to combat depression, sharing his experience with other European physicians who also found cocaine to be an effective topical anesthetic.
This refinement allowed the use of cocaine in many different medicinal products and beverages, most notably Coca-Cola and Vin Mariani. Conan Doyle stood alone in the late
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