coca leaves effects and tradictional use

THE OLDEST AND MOST POPULAR WAY TO CONSUME ALCALOID COCAINE IS VIA ORAL INTAKE, BY ABSORBING IT FROM WHOLE LEAVES LIKE THE TRADITIONAL CHACCHADORES OR LEAVES CHEWERS FROM THE ANDES AND THE AMAZON, OR BY DRINKING COCA LEAVES INFUSIONS, OR BY GRINDING LEAVES TO MAKE FLOUR LIKE SOME BRAZILIAN AND COLOMBIAN COMMUNITIES DO, NEAR BOLIVIA AND PERU.

FRUITS AND STEMS ARE NOT USED for the chewing AND INFUSIONS, JUST THE LEAVES. BEFORE CHEWING, the LEAVES ARE MIXED with aN alcalin SUbSTANCe MADE FROM ROOTS AND BURNT STEMS, OR QUICKLIME, CALLED LLIPTA OR TROCA. THEY DO THIS TO EXTRACT COCAINE FROM THE LEAVES (CARROLL, 1977; CARTER & MAMANI, 1978; MACHICAO, 1986). during the 1990S coca was mostly used (90.1%) In BOLIVIA, <0.1% (COLOMBIA), 5% (ECUADOR), AND 5.3-30.5% (PERU) (NEGRETE, 1992; MONTOYA & CHILCOAT, 1996). NOwaDAYS (2006), COLOMBIA HAS BECOME THE LARGEST MANUFACTURER OF COCA PLANTS (COCA LEAVES; ALMOST ALL OF THE PRODUCE IS USED FOR DRUG TRAFfICKING.

The chemical analysis of coca leaves shows they may contain between 0.25% and 2.25% alkaloids, of which 14 have been identified. Among the nutritional substances (Collazos et al, 1964; Duke et al, 1975; Ramos-Aliaga, 2005, one of the most important ones is cocaine (Martín et al, 1970). According to a later publication, (Turner et al, 1981) coca leaves contain 19 alkaloids, including nicotine. The first chemical analysis of the commercial presentation called mate de coca (Bolivia and Peru), which contains whole ground coca leaves, showed an average of 234.5 mg cocaine in 100 grams of leaves (National Health Institute, Lima, 1982). The first report about decocainization of mate de coca (requested by Hagelin and Co. Inc.) dates from 1988 and states no cocaine nor ecgonin were detected. (Industrial Testing Laboratories, New York, 4/21/1988).

Chemical findings are subject to the form of cocaine extraction, which can be natural (alkaloid) or through different preparations that have been manufactured since the nineteenth century, many of which are no longer in production, such as citrate and bromate-cocaine. Hydrochloride is the only official pharmaceutical formula with less than 10% cocaine. (Fleming et al, 1990). Later, addictive products for drug trafficking appeared on the market such as cocaine paste, freebase and crack, which contains a high percentage of toxic substances from the chemical process in its preparation. (Morales-Vaca,1984; Arif, 1997).