Erythroxylum coca

Coca Plant

Family: Erythroxylaceae
Genus: Erythroxylum
Species: coca

ERYTHROXYLACEAE (J. P. D. W. Payens, Leyden) 

OCR Reproduced from "Erythroxylaceae (Payens) Flora Malesiana" 
1958 Sept ser. 1 Vol 54 pp 543-552

2. Erythroxylum coca LAMK, Enc. Meth. Bot. 2 (1786) 393; Cav. Diss. 7 (1789) 402; DC. Prod. I (1824) 575; HOOK. Coinp. Bot. Mag. 1 (1835) 161; 2(1836) 25; MARTIUS, Abh. Ak. Munchen 3 (1841) 367; GOSSE, Mem. Cour. Acad. Roy. Belg. 12 (1861); PKYRIISCH, II. Bras. 12, 1 (1878) 156; BERKHOUT, Tijd. Nijv. Landb. N.I. 31 (1885) 251; TRIM. Ceyl. Adm. Rep. (1887) 13; MORRIS, Kew Bull. 3 (1889) 3, 221; J. Linn. Soc. Bot. 25 (1890) 381; BURCK, Teysmannia 1 (1890)385,449; HOOK.f. Bot. Mag. 50 (1894) t. 7334; BACK. Fl. Bat. I (1907) 210; 0. E. SCHLJLZ, PIL R. Heft 29 (1907) 83; BACK. Schoolfl. Java (1911) 164; MERR. Fl. Manila (1912) 267; KOORD. Exk. Fl. Java 2 (1912)416; VAN GORKUM, Oost-ind. Cult. 3 (1913) 171; BURK. Dict. 1 (1935) 950; KANEHIRA, J. Dept Agr. Kyushu Imp. Un. 4 (1935) 341; BROWN, Useful PI. Philip. (1950) 190.- E. peruvianum PRESCOTT, Hist. Conquest of Peru 1 (1847) 129, nom. nud.-E. bolivianum BURCK, Teysmannia 1 (1890) 456.

Small tree or shrub up to 2 1/2 m. Lenticels on the branches sometimes warty, very prominent. 

Leaves chiefly at the ends of the twigs, soon falling, broad-elliptic, c. 3-8 by 2-4 cm, dark green above, paler and glaucous beneath, acuminate or rounded with a mucronate tip, cuneate at the base; midrib prominent beneath; nerves numerous, very faint on both sides, venation delicately anastomosing, two lines giving a clearly distinguishable, slightly concave areolation of a paler colour; petiole c. 2-6 mm. 

Stipules triangular, more or less bicarinate, shorter than or as long as the petiole, c. 3-5 by 3-5 mm, persistent, on old branches brown and stiff, top acute, 2-toothed. Ramenta numerous. 

Flowers in clusters of 6-12, rarely more, in the axil of leaves or ramenta. Bracteoles deltoid small and scarious. Pedicels thickened, c. 4-6 mm.

Calyx green, the tube 2-1 mm, lobes triangular-ovate, acute, c. 1-2 mm. 

Petals yellow or yellowish green, oblong, convex, c. 4-4 1/2 by 2 mm; ligule 3-lobed (2 lobes crisped), half as long as the blade, claw broad, c. 1/5 of the petal.

Brachystylous flower.-Staminal tube c. 1 1/2 mm. Stamens equal; filaments 4 mm, anthers 1/2 by 1/3 mm. 

Dolichostylous flowers.-Stamens unequal; episepalous filaments ?- nun, epipetalous ones 3 mm; anthers 1/4 by 1/2 and 1/2 by 1/4 mm respectively. Styles tree, 4 mm.

Ovary ellipsoid, slightly longer than the staminal tube, c. 2 by 1 1/2 mm; styles free, c. 2 mm.

Drupe red, oblong-ovoid, pointed, when dry obtusely trigonous, furrowed, c. 7-10 by 3-4 1/2 mm; sterile cells not very distinct, fertile cell large, almost triquetrous in section. 

Seed with 3 distinct ribs; endosperm abundant; embryo central, small, c. 6 by l 1/2 mm, flattened, cotyledons lanceolate c. 4 mm; radicle c. 2 mm.

Distr. Native in South America, cultivated in various oilier tropical countries, in Malaysia obviously only cultivated in a few Botanic Gardens but not used as a crop in plantations.

Ecol. At Bogor it produces abundant fruit but not much foliage as it does at higher altitudes, for example in tropical South America, where it is grown on red clay soils up to 1600 m. 

Fl.-fr. Jan.-Dec.

Uses. In S. America chewed by the Indians as a stimulant, leaves being exported for distillation abroad. Cultivated from early times for its leaves which are used as a masticatory. The leaves contain Cocaine, an alkaloid that exerts a stimulant action when chewed. The Native Americans have made significant contributions to today's medicine. The medicinal use of the coca leaf by South America Indians has been incorporated into medicines throughout history. 

Vern. Peru coca, coca, D, E.

http://cocaine.org/erythroxylum/genus.html

 

Phytochemistry

http://cocaine.org/phytochemistry/erythroxylum.html

Biological activity of the alkaloids of Erythroxylum coca and Erythroxylum novogranatense
by
Novak M, Salemink CA, Khan I 
J Ethnopharmacol 1984 May; 10(3):261-74

ABSTRACT
The cultivated Erythroxylum varieties E. coca var. coca, E. coca var. ipadu, E. novogranatense var. novogranatense and E. novogranatense var. truxillense contain 18 alkaloids, identified so far, belonging to the tropanes, pyrrolidines and pyridines, with cocaine as the main alkaloid. The biological activity of the following alkaloids has been reported in the literature: cocaine, cinnamoylcocaine, benzoylecgonine, methylecgonine, pseudotropine, benzoyltropine, tropacocaine, alpha- and beta-truxilline, hygrine, cuscohygrine and nicotine. The biological activity of cocaine and nicotine is not reviewed here, because it is discussed elsewhere in the literature. Hardly anything is known about the biological activity of the other alkaloids present in the four varieties mentioned. The biosynthesis of the coca alkaloids has been outlined. 

Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases

Chemicals in: Erythroxylum coca var. coca (Erythroxylaceae) -- Coca

Chemicals

1-HEXANOL Leaf 10 - 65 ppm DUKE1992A

6-PHOSPHOGLUCONATE-DEHYDROGENASE Plant: DUKE1992A

ACONITASE Plant: DUKE1992A

ADENYLATE-KINASE Plant: DUKE1992A

ALANINE-AMINOTRANSFERASE Plant: DUKE1992A

ALCOHOL-DEHYDROGENASE Plant: DUKE1992A

ALKALINE-PHOSPHATASE Plant: DUKE1992A

ALKALOIDS Leaf 2,500 - 22,500 ppm DUKE1992A

ALPHA-TRUXILLINE Leaf: DUKE1992A

ALPHA-TRUXINIC-ACID Leaf: DUKE1992A

ALUMINUM Leaf 395 - 420 ppm DUKE1992A

ASCORBIC-ACID Leaf 14 - 15 ppm DUKE1992A

ASH Leaf 46,000 - 96,250 ppm DUKE1992A

BARIUM Leaf 46 - 48 ppm DUKE1992A

BENZOYLACGONINE Leaf: DUKE1992A

BENZOYLECGONINE Leaf: DAP JBH

BENZOYLTROPEIN Plant: JBH

BENZOYLTROPINE Leaf: DUKE1992A

BETA-AMYRIN Leaf: DUKE1992A

BETA-CAROTENE Leaf 5.4 - 7 ppm DUKE1992A

BETA-COCAINE Plant: DUKE1992A

BETA-TRUXILLINE Leaf: DUKE1992A

BETA-TRUXINIC-ACID Leaf: DUKE1992A

BIOTIN Leaf 0.8 - 1 ppm DUKE1992A

BORON Leaf 53 - 57 ppm DUKE1992A

CAFFEIC-ACID Leaf: DUKE1992A

CALCIUM Plant: DUKE1992A

CARBOHYDRATES Leaf 424,000 - 648,000 ppm DUKE1992A

CEROTIC-ACID Leaf: DUKE1992A

CHLOROGENIC-ACID Plant: DUKE1992A

CHROMIUM Leaf 3.5 - 3.8 ppm DUKE1992A

CINNAMIC-ACID Leaf: JBH

CINNAMYLCOCAINE Leaf: DUKE1992A

CIS-3-HEXEN-1-OL Leaf 32 - 210 ppm DUKE1992A

COCAINE Leaf: DUKE1992A

COPPER Leaf 2.2 - 13 ppm DUKE1992A

CUSCOHYGRINE Leaf: DUKE1992A

CYANIDIN Leaf: DUKE1992A

CYTOCHROME-OXIDASE Plant: DUKE1992A

D-ALPHA-TOCOPHEROL Leaf 30 ppm; DUKE1992A

DIAPHORASE Plant: DUKE1992A

DIHYDROBENZALDEHYDES Leaf 75 - 505 ppm DUKE1992A

DIHYDROCUSCOHYGRINE Plant: DUKE1992A

DIHYDROXYTROPANE Leaf: DUKE1992A

ECGONINE Leaf: JBH

ELLAGITANNINS Leaf: DUKE1992A

EO Leaf 200 - 1,300 ppm DUKE1992A

ERYTHRODIOLMONOSTEARATE Fruit: DUKE1992A

FAT Leaf 16,000 - 53,475 ppm DUKE1992A

FIBER Leaf 80,000 - 175,000 ppm DUKE1992A

FRUCTOSE-BIPHOSPHATASE Plant: DUKE1992A

GALACTOSE-DEHYDROGENASE Plant: DUKE1992A

GERANIIN Leaf 3,000 - 3,100 ppm DUKE1992A

GLUCOSE-6-PHOSPHATE-DEHYDROGENASE Plant: DUKE1992A

GLUCOSE-TRIPHOSPHATE-ISOMERASE Plant: DUKE1992A

GLUTAMATE-DEHYDROGENASE Plant: DUKE1992A

GLUTATHIONE-REDUCTASE Plant: DUKE1992A

GLYCERALDEHYDE-3-PHOSPHATE Plant: DUKE1992A

GLYCERATE-2-DEHYDROGENASE Plant: DUKE1992A

HYGRINE Leaf: DUKE1992A

HYGROLINE Leaf: DUKE1992A

IODINE Leaf 0.05 ppm; DUKE1992A

IRON Leaf 66 - 490 ppm DUKE1992A

ISOCITRATE-DEHYDROGENASE Plant: DUKE1992A

ISOQUERCITRIN Leaf 100 ppm; DUKE1992A

KAEMPFEROL Plant: DUKE1992A

KAEMPFEROL-3-O-ARABINOSIDE Leaf: DUKE1992A

KAEMPFEROL-3-O-GALACTOSYLXYLOSIDE Leaf: DUKE1992A

KAEMPFEROL-3-O-GLUCOSIDE Leaf: DUKE1992A

KAEMPFEROL-3-O-GLUCOSYLXYLOSIDE Leaf: DUKE1992A

KAEMPFEROL-3-O-XYLOSYLGALACTOSIDE Leaf: DUKE1992A

KAEMPFEROL-3-O-XYLOSYLGLUCOSIDE Leaf: DUKE1992A

KILOCALORIES Leaf 3,050 - 3,260 /kg DUKE1992A

LACTATE-DEHYDROGENASE Plant: DUKE1992A

LEUCOCYANIDIN Leaf: DUKE1992A

LEUCYL-ALANINE-PEPTIDASE Plant: DUKE1992A

LEUCYL-LEUCYL-LEUCINE-PEPTIDASE Plant: DUKE1992A

MAGNESIUM Leaf 2,130 - 5,700 ppm DUKE1992A

MALIC-ENZYME Plant: DUKE1992A

MANGANESE Leaf 26 - 71 ppm DUKE1992A

METHYL-SALICYLATE Leaf 25 - 175 ppm DUKE1992A

METHYLCOCAINE Leaf: DUKE1992A

N,N-DIMETHYL-BENZYLAMINE Leaf 1 - 6 ppm DUKE1992A

N-METHYLPYRROLE Leaf 7 - 48 ppm DUKE1992A

NIACIN Leaf 13 - 61 ppm DUKE1992A

NICOTINE Leaf: DUKE1992A

PALMITIC-ACID Leaf: DUKE1992A

PALMITYL-BETA-AMYRIN Leaf: DUKE1992A

PANTOTHENIC-ACID Leaf 7 ppm; DUKE1992A

PHENYLALANYL-PROLINE-PEPTIDASE Plant: DUKE1992A

PHOSPHORUS Leaf 3,630 - 9,740 ppm DUKE1992A

PHYTOSTEROLS Plant: DUKE1992A

POTASSIUM Leaf 5,000 - 21,600 ppm DAP UNP

PROCYANIDINS Leaf: DUKE1992A

PROTEIN Leaf 187,000 - 202,000 ppm DUKE1992A

PYRUVATE-KINASE Plant: DUKE1992A

QUERCETIN-3-O-ARABINOSIDE Leaf: DUKE1992A

QUERCETIN-3-O-GALACTOSYLXYLOSIDE Leaf: DUKE1992A

QUERCETIN-3-O-GLUCOSIDE Leaf: DUKE1992A

QUERCETIN-3-O-GLUCOSYLGALACTOSIDE Leaf: DUKE1992A

QUERCETIN-3-O-GLUCOSYLXYLOSIDE Leaf: DUKE1992A

QUERCETIN-3-O-XYLOSYLGALACTOSIDE Leaf: DUKE1992A

QUERCETIN-3-O-XYLOSYLGLUCOSIDE Leaf: DUKE1992A

QUERCITRIN Leaf: DUKE1992A

RIBOFLAVIN Leaf 15 - 20 ppm DUKE1992A

RUTIN Leaf 5,000 ppm; DUKE1992A

SODIUM Leaf 400 - 435 ppm DUKE1992A

STRONTIUM Leaf 97 - 104 ppm DUKE1992A

THIAMIN Leaf 3.5 - 8 ppm DUKE1992A

TRANS-2-HEXANAL Leaf 20 - 135 ppm DUKE1992A

TRIOSE-PHOSPHATE-ISOMERASE Plant: DUKE1992A

TROPACOCAINE Leaf: DUKE1992A

VIT-B-6 Leaf 5 ppm; DUKE1992A

VIT-B12 Leaf 0.01 ppm; DUKE1992A

WATER Leaf 65,000 - 800,000 ppm DUKE1992A

WAX Leaf: DUKE1992A

XANTHINE-DEHYDROGENASE Plant: DUKE1992A

ZINC Leaf 18 - 29 ppm DUKE1992A

Please send questions and comments to:

James A. Duke

Jim Duke
Green Farmacy Garden
8210 Murphy Road
Fulton, MD 20759

or

Mary Jo Bogenschutz (E-Mail: bogie@hawaii.rr.com)

Please send technical questions and comments to:

http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/eclectic/bpc1911/erythroxylon.html

The British Pharmaceutical Codex.
Published by direction of the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, 1911.


COCAE FOLIA, B.P.
COCA LEAVES.
Other tomes: Felter - Ellingwood - Potter - USDisp - Sayre - King's

Coca leaves are the product of Erythroxylum Coca, Lam. (Bolivian or Huanuco leaves), and of E. truxillense, Rusby (Peruvian or Truxillo leaves), shrubs (N.O. Lineae) cultivated in Bolivia, Peru, and Ceylon whence the leaves are imported into Europe. Coca, U.S.P., must yield not less than 0.5 per cent. of the ether-soluble alkaloids of coca. Bolivian coca leaves are oval in outline and vary from 3.5 to 7 centimetres in length, and from 25 to 35 millimetres in breadth. They are brownish-green in colour and are generally well preserved. The veinlets are prominent on the upper surface, and the midrib, which projects at the apex, in the form of a minute horny apiculus, is seen under the lens to lie in a depression, and to bear a distinct raised ridge on the upper surface. On the under surface of the leaf two curved lines run from base to apex on each side of the midrib. The odour is faint but characteristic, and the taste is slightly bitter, followed by a sensation of numbness. Truxillo leaves are generally rather smaller than the Bolivian variety, more broken, and pale green in colour. The ridge above the midrib and the curved lines on each side of it are less distinct, and the veinlets much less prominent on the upper surface. They are occasionally mixed with flowers of a species of Inga, an intentional addition made with the object of improving the drug. Ceylon leaves which are imported into this country in considerable quantities are the leaves of E. Coca; they resemble Bolivian leaves, but are usually larger, and are said to contain rather less alkaloid. Coca leaves from Java are derived from E. Coca, var. spruceanum, Burck.; they are exported in the crushed state from Java to Germany via Amsterdam and yield about 0.7 per cent. of total alkaloid, part of which is benzoyl-pseudo-tropine or tropacocaine. Young (Java) leaves, carefully dried have been found to contain as much as 2 per cent. of alkaloid. As the cocaine is easily hydrolysed it is desirable that the leaves should be free from mildew and kept in a dry place.

Constituents.
Coca leaves contain the alkaloids cocaine (methyl-benzoyl-ecgonine), cinnamyl- cocaine (methyl-cinnamyl-ecgonine), and truxilline (isatropyl-cocaine or cocamine). The total amount yielded by the commercial leaves varies from about 0.1 to 1.0 per cent. As a rule Truxillo leaves contain rather more alkaloid than Bolivian, but only about one-half of it is cocaine, whereas from three-fourths to five-sixths of the total alkaloid in Bolivian leaves consists of cocaine. The latter are to be preferred for medicinal use. Coca leaves also contain cocatannic acid. Java coca contains tropacocaine and four yellow crystalline glucosides, in addition to the other constituents.

Action and Uses.
The properties of coca are virtually those of cocaine (see Cocaina)(not scanned), though preparations of the whole drug appear rather more stimulating and possess a mild astringency. In Peru and Bolivia, coca leaves are chewed for their effect in relieving hunger and fatigue. The leaves of commerce are not so active in this respect as the freshly dried drug used where it is found native. Coca leaves are used as a cerebral and muscle stimulant especially during convalescence. The drug relieves gastric pain, nausea and vomiting. Coca is usually administered in the form of one of the preparations. The liquid extract contains some wax from the leaves, which is precipitated when mixed with water. The miscible liquid extract is free from this objection. Extractum Cocae is dispensed in pills and pastilles. The latter are sucked for their local action and for their stimulating effect. Vinum Cocae and Elixir Cocae are more pleasant forms of administering the drug. In cases of poisoning by preparations of coca the antidotes described under Cocaina should be employed.

Dose.
2 to 8 grammes (30 to 120 grains).

PREPARATIONS.
Also: Cocaine nasal bougies - Cocaine urethral bougies - Cocaine Eye Drops

Elixir Cocae, B.P.C.
ELIXIR OF COCA. 1 (miscible liquid extract) in 6. 
A palatable preparation of coca for use as a cerebral stimulant and gastric sedative. Dose.
4 to 15 mils (1 to 4 fluid drachms). 
Extractum Cocae, B.P.C.
EXTRACT OF COCA. 
Prepared by evaporation of the liquid extract. Dose.
1 to 6 decigrams (2 to 10 grains). 
Extractum Cocae Liquidum, B.P.
LIQUID EXTRACT OF COCA. 
Coca leaves, in No. 20 powder, 100; alcohol (60 per cent.), sufficient to produce 100. Macerate the drug with 200 of alcohol for forty-eight hours, then transfer the mixture to a percolator, and percolate with sufficient alcohol to exhaust the drug. Reserve the first 75 of percolate; evaporate the remainder, at a temperature below 80°, to a soft extract, dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add sufficient alcohol to make up to the required volume. Liquid extract of coca is prescribed in mixture form or diluted with glycerin and syrup. It forms a turbid mixture with water, its waxy constituents being precipitated. Miscible liquid extract of coca is without this disadvantage. The content of total alkaloid in liquid extract of coca is very variable, ranging from 0.2 to 0.8 per cent., the average being about 0.38 per cent. This uncertainty in its composition causes the preparation to be little used. Dose.
2 to 4 mils (1/2 to 1 fluid drachm). 
Extractum Cocae Liquidum Miscibile, B.P.C.
MISCIBLE LIQUID EXTRACT OF COCA. 1 in 1. 
Miscible liquid extract of coca is free from the wax of the official liquid extract and forms a clear solution with water. It is usually weaker in total alkaloid than the official liquid extract. Dose.
2 to 4 mils (1/2 to 1 fluid drachm). 
Fluidextractum Cocae, U.S.P.
FLUID EXTRACT OF COCA. 
Coca leaves, in No. 40 powder, 100; alcohol (49 per cent.), a sufficient quantity. The finished product should contain 0.5 per cent. w/v of ether-soluble alkaloids of coca. Average dose.
2 mils (30 minims). 
Tinctura Cocae, B.P.C.
TINCTURE OF COCA. 1 in 5. 
Used as a cerebral stimulant and gastric sedative. Dose.
2 to 4 mils (1/2 to 1 fluid drachm). 
Vinum Cocae, B.P.C.
COCA WINE. 1 (elixir) in 8. 
This is a strongly medicated wine. In order that it may be included in the class of medicated wines for sale without a wine licence, it must contain not less than half a grain of alkaloid per fluid ounce. Acts mainly in virtue of its cocaine. Coca wine differs from tea, in that the former beverage acts mainly on the motor areas and the latter on the psychical, Dose.
8 to 15 mils (2 to 4 fluid drachms) with water. 
Vinum Cocae, U.S.P.
WINE OF COCA. 
Fluidextract of coca, 6.5; alcohol (95 per cent.), 7.5; sugar, 6.5; red wine, sufficient to produce 100. Average dose.
16 mils (4 fluid drachms). 
Vinum Cocae et Quininae Phosphatis, B.P.C.
COCA AND QUININE PHOSPHATE WINE. 
Each fluid ounce contains 1 grain of quinine sulphate, 30 minims of liquid extract of coca, 4 minims of diluted phosphoric acid, with alcohol, detannated sherry and distilled water. Dose.—15 to 60 mils (1/2 to 2 fluid ounces). 

History

The history of cocaine begins thousands of years ago with the coca plant and its use by the natives of South America. Coca belongs to the genus Erythroxylum that includes about 250 species. Its home is the montana tropical region of the eastern Andes Mountains in South America where the Native Americans have used it as a medicinal plant for centuries to treat many illnesses. 

Several changes have occurred in history with the medicinal uses of coca, first with its acquisition by the Europeans and Americans, then with the discovery of its main alkaloid, cocaine. The perceptions of this plant and its major alkaloid have fluctuated between evil and good, mainly driven by the misconception that they were identical to each other in their medicinal properties. 

Failing to properly distinguish coca from cocaine caused much confusion and controversy. Research concentrated on cocaine and not its mother plant, which led to several therapeutic uses of cocaine. 

THE COCA PLANT is an evergreen shrub found in the fertile, warm valleys of the eastern Andes. The leaves are either oval or elliptical, of thin texture and between three and five centimetres long, resembling laurel or bay leaves. In the subtropical regions where it flourishes, orchids and banana trees grow, but for thousands of years coca (Erythroxylum coca) has been one of the crops most prized by the indigenous peoples of South America. Chewed with a pinch of lime, the leaf releases a mild dose of cocaine alkaloid which numbs sensory nerves, dulls hunger and pain and even provides vitamins otherwise absent in the starch-heavy diet of the highland Indian. 

When this active alkaloid is isolated and refined, Cocaine is produced, a drug with an unequalled power to stimulate the pleasure centres of the human brain. The illegal marketing of Cocaine has led to calls by western governments - who ignore the central role that the coca leaf has played in the daily life of the indigenous cultures of the Americas for millennia - for the total elimination of coca plantations. 

The word "coca" comes from the Aymara word q'oka, which means "food for travelers and workers". There is some controversy over the plant's precise origin, but some ethnobiologists estimate that coca was first cultivated as long ago as 6000 BC. Archaeological discoveries in Ecuador from the Valdivia Period (3000 BC) certainly provide early proof of the use of coca; ceramic figurines have been found representing men whose most outstanding features are the bulges in the cheeks characteristic of the coca chewer. In Peru and Bolivia, figurative pottery vessels of the Chavin Period and wooden drinking vessels from Tiahuanaco clearly show men, probably priests, chewing coca. 

Cocaine was highly regarded in the 1880s and 1890s, when many prominent public figures advocated its use. Pope Leo XII, Sigmund Freud, Jules Verne and Thomas Edison all approved of its use, while Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary supersleuth Sherlock Holmes experienced bursts of lucidity on injecting himself with the drug; the title of the story "The Seven Percent Solution" is a reference to the great detective's preferred dosage. 

The United States has declared war on drugs and specifically condemned Cocaine as "a threat to (its) national security". The United States government devotes millions of dollars each year and United States military muscle in an effort to stop Cocaine production at its source - most notably in the jungles of Colombia where the 35-year civil war between the government and Marxist guerrillas is widely perceived as indivisible from the drug trade.

http://www.botgard.ucla.edu/html/botanytextbooks/economicbotany/Erythroxylum/

FREUD'S MAGICAL DRUG
Coca (Erythroxylum coca)

ERYTHROXYLACEAE, Coca Family

Coca (Erythroxylum coca), the source of the alkaloid cocaine, is a small tree native to moist tropical montane regions of Peru, Bolivia, and, possibly, Ecuador. This plant was an essential part of early civilizations in northwestern South America. Traditionally the user made a ball-like quid with a coca leaf, added a paste of lime (ground rock or seashells) or alkaline ashes (e.g., from stems of Chenopodium quinoa), and then placed the quid in the cheek, where saliva would flow over the coca and trickle down the throat. A user could be identified by the bulge in the cheek. The presence of an alkali helped to release the alkaloids from the leaf--the origin of crack cocaine in today's society. In the mouth, the coca leaf was never chewed, although coca is sometimes called a masticatory.

Evidence that coca leaves were used dates back to 3000 B.C. Telltale signs include figurines of coca chewers (coqueros) and ceramic lime pots from the Valdiva culture of coastal Ecuador. Coca ceramics have been found from the upper river valleys of Peru from 1900-1750 B.C. In Ecuador at 500 B.C., the Carchi tribes made ceramics of coqueros and had small lime or ash containers (iscupurus). In the region of Nazca, Peru, mummies almost 2000 years old were found with bags of coca leaves (chuspas) around their necks. Therefore, the coca-leaf culture was well established before the Inca rule began in Peru, even though the Incas invented legends how the coca tradition began with the origin of their relatively recent culture, e.g., from the body parts of the adulteress Mama Coca.

It is from the Incas that we have the most useful information about the history of coca use. Here, as probably earlier, coca was a symbol of royalty, and its use was officially restricted to male royalty and nobility, religious priests, and shamans. There are accounts that coca was used for treating the sick, both for diagnosis and therapy, and being used for pains from toothaches to malaria. Sometime during the Inca rule, coca use was granted to yaravecs, court orators, who under the influence would recite the Inca history using a quipo, a string with knots. Likewise, coca was offered to young nobles during manhood initiation rites. Young maidens would give runners coca and chicha to make them race faster. Rarely in Inca society, human sacrifices were offered to the sun, and the victim was given large doses of coca beforehand; if the victim perceived coca on his lips just at the time of death, he would go to paradise. It does not appear that in Inca society coca was used casually.

The rulers of the Inca world kept power in part by controlling coca as a monopoly. In the rule of the 10th leader, Topa Inca (1471-1493), the power of the ruling class weakened greatly, and many civil wars occurred. The next ruler, Huayana Capas (1493-1527), rewarded loyalty by granting his followers the right to cultivate coca trees. This ended the state's monopoly of coca leaves, and by the time of the Spanish Conquest coca was no longer a symbol of political or social status.

Coca was held in such high esteem because the alkaloid of this plant was able to combat fatigue and to mask hunger, the later by inhibiting nerve impulses that convey hunger pangs. Living at high elevations in the Andes is very stressful, and this leaf made the drudgery of daily life bearable. Under its influence, cultures built stone edifices in the high Andes and successfully cultivated potatoes (Solanum tuberosum and others).

Pizarro came to the New World with Balboa. In November, 1532, he and his soldiers ambushed a royal Inca welcoming party, and by 1533 Pizarro's army had conquered the Incas and had slain the priests and nobles. Spanish settlers of Peru were given tracts of land, repartimientos, with enslaved Indians to work them. 

The Roman Catholic church was a powerful political force in the New World. Jesuits, who wanted to convert the Indians to Catholicism, opposed coca because it permitted the Indians to bind with past culture and religion. Priests declared that coca was a food and, therefore, could not be eaten before receiving the Holy Eucharist--coca was a violation of the mandatory precommunion fast. Thus, in 1551 the Bishop of Cuzco banned coca use because it was an evil agent of the Devil, and decreed punishment by death (burning) for users of those in possession of the leaves. This action occurred, coincidentally, as part of the Spanish Inquisition. Plantations were cut down, and stores of coca leaves were burned. Consequently, the coca leaf business went underground and became a way of defying the invaders and authority.

The Church notwithstanding, Spanish leaders realized that coca was a necessary tool and an incentive to work in the thin Andean air of the high mountains. In 1569 King Phillip II decreed that coca was not devilish. Spain needed labor to mine gold, silver, and gemstones. Productivity had been low and death common for those working the mines. In 1570 Spain also imposed a heavy resident tax, payable in Spanish coin, and to make this coinage the Indians, already enslaved, were forced to work harder on short rations and for longer hours-18 to 48 hours per stretch. Consequently, there was great pressure on the leaders and mine overseers to increase production, and this was done by supplying the Indians with coca leaves. Given coca leaves three to four times per day, Indians were able to improve production, and bullion flowed from the mines for developing the Spanish Armada. A male Indian with coca leaves could carry 150 pounds five kilometers in 45 minutes and could walk up a steep mountain (12,000 to 15,000 feet) at a rate of 2.5 kilometers per hour! In one of the great turnarounds in history, the Jesuits claimed that the Devil's coca would now be used to assist "God's work."

Unfortunately, 90% of the mine workers never lived out their 5-month tenure of duty in the silver mines. To supply great quantities of coca leaves, coca plantations (cocales) were established, but even here long hours of heavy labor produced high death rates of the native slaves (up to 50%). Many natives died in the lowlands of poor health--from poor nutrition, exhaustion, and European diseases. By 1650 the Inca population had fallen to 4,000,000 from 10,000,000 in the mid-1500s.

In the 16th century Nicolas Monardes attempted to import coca leaves to Spain, but they decayed during the long voyage. Some interest in coca leaves was raised in London in 1814 to replace food for the poor and to assist child labor practices, but fortunately the leaves were still unavailable in Europe.

Cocaine was first isolated by Dr. Paolo Mantegazza and then tested on himself in 1860. About the same time cocaine was extracted by Angelo Mariani, a chemist, and put into cough drops and wine, called Mariani's Coca Wine or Dr. Mariani's French Tonic, which became the rage in Europe and was endorsed by Rodin, Thomas Edison, President William McKinley, Jules Vernes, and H.G. Wells. Pope Leo XIII gave Mariani a gold medal for relieving fatigue, lifting spirits, and giving people a sense of well being. Its use affected literature, e.g., Sherlock Holmes injected cocaine in his arm, and Robert Louis Stevenson presumably wrote Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde while under the influence of cocaine. There were many tonics, elixirs, and medicines with cocaine, and cocaine was on a wave of popularity in the 1920s.

Apropos to all this, in 1886 John S. Pemberton invented Coca Cola, by combining caramel for coloring, phosphoric acid, extract of kola nut (Cola nitida) for caffeine, and extract of coca leaves, and sugar to disguise the bitterness of the cocaine. In 1892 Asa Griggs Chandler purchased the rights to this formula and served this tonic as a drugstore fountain drink. In 1903 the alkaloid cocaine was removed.

One famous fan of cocaine use was Sigmund Freud. In 1884 Freud was in search of fame as a struggling doctor and wanted a cure for nervous exhaustion and morphine addiction. He found that cocaine relieved his own chronic depression and wrote a series of papers on cocaine, praising its results as a "magical drug," superior to morphine. Years later he backed off from his former praises. Freud was also a catalyst for a great medical development; in 1884 he asked Dr. Karl Koller of Vienna to work with coca leaves. Koller was an ophthalmologist, and he was looking for something to use during eye operations. Freud recommended cocaine as a local anesthetic, because it could numb the tongue. Koller soon discovered that cocaine hydrochloride was a successful eye anesthetic and also fine for surgery of the ear, nose, and throat. In 1885 Wilhelm Filehne showed that atropine has a chemical structure close to that of cocaine, and atropine became the anesthesia of choice. Nonetheless, interest in cocaine had opened research on this class of medical chemicals.

Some physicians question the classification of cocaine as a narcotic, because it has exactly opposite characteristics of opium. Cocaine produces intense euphoria and short-term hallucinations; there is apparently no true physical addiction or physical withdrawal symptoms from the milder, standard cocaine, although persons are psychologically addicted and have intense cravings for the drug. However, the reintroduction of Crack (quicklime added, as in ancient times), was very dangerous and physically addictive. Cocaine is snorted or sniffed generally through the nose and is absorbed through the nasal epithelium. This ruins nasal tissues and causes increases in heart rate and blood pressure as well as a rise in body temperature. Several synthetic cocaine-like substances are used in medicine and dentistry, including procaine or Novocaine and Lidocaine.

Coca culture

In this brief section - brief because there is not a great deal of elaboration to the practice of coca cultivation - I have compressed the various methods of growing in Peru and Java, principally because there isn't much difference between these methods.
The plant grows well at altitudes ranging from 1000 to 6000 ft above sea level. In Peru coca is grown between 700 and 2300 m; and in the East Indies from 350 to 800 m. The ideal average temperature for vigor in growth is 68F. Coca will not tolerate freezing temperatures in the night nor temperatures above 95F for extended periods in the day. At the higher part of the temperature range the plant loses much of it's vital force, the leaves become dry and the subtle tang of the essential oils is lost. At the lower end of the range the plant becomes dispirited, the leaves remain small, never fully maturing, and the plant cannot be counted on to give more than one lackluster harvests a year.
While the plant thrives in locations where it receives lots of direct sunlight, it will also do well enough if it must be grown in a relatively shady spot, though it will not show as lush a leaf population at maturity. There is relatively little difference in alkaloid production between shade-grown and sun-grown Coca, though the sparse harvests from the shaded tree do mean significantly less production overall. Coca cannot be effectively cultivated in regions which experience long dry spells, and does best when there is a certain temperate humidity in the air air for most or all of the year. It is most desirable that there be a constant, or near constant as possible humidity throughout the year, a situation that bodes well for greenhouse cultivation. Neither should the rainy season experienced by the plant be extended, for while a great deal of rain makes for a big, gloriously bushed plant, it somehow diminishes the alkaloid production of the glossy leaves and the prospect of very sore jaw muscles if he is to obtain any of the benefits hoped for in his long efforts.
Several writers on the subject of Coca cultivation have noted that any area suitable for growing Tea plants is also eminently suited for Coca cultivation, a fact that might make consultation with your friendly agricultural department a bit less trying if you need assistance in locating a suitable area for any project you might have in mind. One starts Coca by planting the seeds in covered beds which protect the sprouts from the direct sun and from battering rains, not to mention the predations of various creatures. The seeds are planted three inches apart. Those selected for planting should be well ripened, and should be air dried in a breezy, shaded spot for three days before going into the earth. It is not absolutely necessary to engage in the perhaps perilous business of transplantation; in several places seeds are planted directly into furrows. In such cases the furrows are covered with a layer of non-acid leaves or with bedding plastic.
Bedded seeds as well as field-planted seeds should be planted 3/4 inches deep, and should not be watered for several days, and then only sparingly. Culture of Coca requires no special soil other than an adequate supply of humus and sufficient sand/clay to stabilize the soil without loss of permeability.
After from two to three weeks the seeds germinate, and one then begins a gradual buildup of exposure of the sprouts to sunlight, at the rate of one hour the first day, two hours the second, and so forth until the sprouts are accustomed to the full daylight cycle in which they will be living. If one does not go through this acclimatization process the little plants will elongate severely and many will topple of their own abnormally stimulated weight, defeated by their Icarus like reach for the living sun.
Suring the first six months of their life the little Coca plants are very susceptible to rots and moulds, and any part or plant thus afflicted should be removed immediately. Also one should dust the plants for insect pests regularly during the first six months.
In around 2 1/2 months the plants will reach a height of 5 inches. This will be the time to transplant if you have bedded them. One takes a wide, deep ball up with each plant and sets them out in rows, two feet apart, with rows themselves spaced at three foot intervals. Other spacing arrangements mentioned in the literature on Coca planting include plots of 2.5' x 2.5'; 3' x 3'; or upon occasion, notably in hill country, of 2' x 6'.
After 18 months it is possible to make the premier, most gentle of harvests. The young trees at this point are very tender and can be badly or fatally wounded by a ham-handed harvest. Your first harvest will not be abundant, however its passage will mark the beginning of a period when you will be able to obtain several harvests a year, so practice restraint. A light harvest stimulates the plant at this and all other points, but with the first effort one should take no more than 25% of the leaves, and should leaves most of the lower leaves alone. The first harvest must be performed during the dryer part of the year or, in greenhouse cultivation, after a period when the humidity in the air has been gradually drawn down over a period of months. With this first harvest, the plant is pruned back to a height of one foot above the ground and the lateral branches near the bottom are lightly trimmed back to assist the plant in attaining a solid profile conducive to maximum leaf production later on. The cultivator may expect the equivalent of from four to seven mature leaves from the average plant at first harvest.
Leaf production and alkaloid strength peak during the 5th-8th years of life, falling off gradually as the plant enters middle age. The Coca of Peru is expected to live for forty years, and this figure seems to hold around the world, though in some places - Java, inparticular - the Coca plantations were razed and re-planted every eight years.
In the fourth or fifth year, when the plants have reached a height of from 3.5 to 4.5 feet, the planters of Peru and Java practiced their first grand harvest, though they harvested carefully and intermittently before that time beginning, as mentioned, at about 1.5 years. Upon occasion one finds planters who make the grand harvest their first, foregoing all previous possible opportunities. This seems to be a matter of personal choice and feeling for the state of health of the plant rather than a practice with specific biological basis. In the grand harvest, workers with very sharp, thin bladed shears pass down the rows of plants cutting each back to a height of 2.5' and trimming back the lower laterals significantly, though not rendering them barren. The yield from such a first harvest on a typical 80 x 80 m plantation was calculated to be 240 kilos of leaves.
After the first grand harvest the trees were left to bud and put forth new branchlets; as soon as these new shoots were well-established, in about 6-8 weeks, they were trimmed back once again, before leaf development could begin. With the execution of this second trauma the trees were left alone for six months, and the results were that by the end of their rest period every tree had numerous small, hardy and luxuriant branches, bursting with new leaf.
Beginning, in a sense, with this point in the life of the plant, Coca production can be carried out in earnest. Depending on the planter harvesting can take place from twice monthly to once every two or three months from this point on. The shorter the period between harvests, however, the more attentive the planter must be to rotating his picking around the needs of the trees - they must pick only a portion of the younger age-group leaves. A planter must harvest at least once every three months to prevent his trees from going into seed, thus diverting their vegetative energies from leaf production to seed nuture. When an 80 x 80 metre plantation is harvested according to any of the above suggested schedules, the planters expect an annual yield of from 800 to 950 kilos, and the amount doesn't vary seem to vary much depending on the intervals chosen.

Other references

http://www.inchem.org/documents/pims/plant/erythrox.htm#PartTitle:1.%20NAME