From: [w--li--h] at [ix.netcom.com] (William House )
Newsgroups: alt.com,alt.drugs,alt.drugs.hard,alt.drugs.chemistry,rec.drugs.misc,talk.politics.drugs,alt.politics.perot,alt.law-enforcement
Subject: Are Cocaine Leaf Chews or Soft Drinks the Answer?
Date: 25 Oct 1995 15:58:18 GMT

http://www.ksu.ksu.edu/~floersh/drugs/stim/faq-coke.txt

 [z--e] at [infopls.chi.il.us] (Sameer Parekh) writes:
>      I read in _Licit + Illicit Drugs_ that the people living in the
>Andes who chewed coca leaves to deal with the thin air had no trouble
>stopping use once they moved to a more airy clime.

People interested in checking further into this might be interested in
a couple of articles about coca leaf chewing:

-------

A. Barnett, R. Hawks, and R. Resnick. "Cocaine Pharmacokinetics in
Humans." The Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 3 (1981) 353-366.

"Therefore,  on the basis of this new information that has come as a
result of technological development we can conclude with a pratical
observation.  The size of the quid of coca leaves that can be
comfortably accomodated by a person is such that it is unlikely that
coca chewing,  as practiced for centuries in places like Macchu Piccu,
presents the dangers that may result from the modern forms of
recreational use."

Particularly interesting about this article is that the report came
out of the Division of Research of the National Institute on Drug
Abuse.

-------

A. Weil. "The Therapeutic Value of Coca in Contemporary Medicine."
The Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 3 (1981) 367-376.

"I have lived among coca-using Indians of the Andes and the Amazon
basin in Columbia and Peru and have not seen any signs of physical
deterioration attributable to the leaf.  I have never seen an instance
of coca toxicity.  Nor have I observed physiological or psychological
dependence on coca.

Even life-long chewers seem able to get the effect they want from the
same dose over time;  there is no development of tolerance and
certainly no withdrawal syndrome upon sudden discontinuance of use."