From: [b--l] at [beethoven.cs.unc.edu] (Andrew Bell)
Date: 9 Mar 92 18:35:46 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.drugs,misc.legal,talk.politics.drugs
Subject: Re: Legal Cocaine? (WAS Re: Drug legalization)

In article <[1992 Mar 5 660665 6 F 0 o 5] at [infopls.chi.il.us]> [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:

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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.

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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."

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   -Andrew Bell
[b--l] at [cs.unc.edu]