Shade
History
The coca leaf has accompanied the Andean-Amazonian peoples for thousands of years, as a medicine, spiritual nourishment , and tool of resistance . However, with the arrival of the conquistadors and later with the isolation of cocaine, its history took a profound turn. From a sacred plant to a prohibited substance, from an ancestral ritual to a commercial product, coca is a symbol of life for some and of conflict for others.
Geopolitics
From Diego García-Devis Senior Program Officer for Latin America of the Open Society Foundations Global Drug Policy Program
One cannot be naive and suggest that the industrialization of coca leaves will completely absorb an illicit market that supplies more than 18 million cocaine users worldwide. But it can be asserted that this industry will dignify the work of thousands of growers, allowing them to legally benefit from their traditional agricultural practices, and will promote the rights of communities that use coca as an element of their culture. However, as long as culture, rural development, poverty, and inequality are managed from a narrow penal and punitive perspective, the illegal market will flourish.
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