The Use of Coca in Peru Class Notes

Cieza de Leon

Pointed out that “throughout Peru the Indians carry this coca in their mouths; from morning until they lie down to sleep they never take it out. When I asked some of these Indians why they carried these leaves, they replied that it was a remedy for hunger and fatigue, helping them endure long days of labor.”

Coca and the Inka State

• The Inka state is said to have provided its laborers with coca leaves for chewing

• Coca leaves were of such high value that the Inka state colonized the tropical rainforests (lowlands) east and north of Cuzco, the Inka Capital, to cultivate its own coca supply

• This colonization was nessesary because coca plants can not survive at elevations above 2,600 feet.

Coca and the Spanish Colonial State

• Spaniards deemed the plant “unworthy” or a “savage means of intoxication”

• They orchestrated war against coca but profited not only by owning coca plantations but also by trading it to mining centers such as Potosi

• The coca trade became so lucrative that it was second only to brandy

Coca Uses

• Painkiller

• Stimulant

• Hunger suppression

• Rites of passage

• Socialization

• Substance for currency

• Rituals

• Divination

Highlander’s Views

People of the highlands assert that as long as one has coca leaves, everything is under control; in contrast, without coca leaves, one is helpless.

The UN

In 1961, the UN classified coca leaves with other drugs