Pope plans to chew coca leaves in Bolivia: minister
Source: Reuters
Pope plans to chew coca leaves in Bolivia: minister
Sun Jun 28, 2015 2:35pm EDT
Pope Francis has told the Bolivian government that he would like to chew coca leaves when he visits the Andean country next month, a Bolivian minister said on state television and radio on Sunday.
Situated at around 3,650 meters (11,975 ft) above sea level, La Paz is one of the world's highest capital cities and for centuries local people have chewed coca leaves to ward off the effects of altitude.
Although it is the key ingredient in cocaine, the unprocessed leaf is legal to use and still widely chewed in Bolivia and other Andean countries. Many indigenous people, including Bolivian President Evo Morales, defend its use and consider it a sacred plant.
"We offered (the Pope) coca tea or something for the altitude," Culture Minister Marko Machicao said an interview with broadcasters.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/28/us-pope-bolivia-idUSKCN0P80X220150628?rpc=401
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)drm604
(16,230 posts)Is the raw leaf all that different from coffee as a stimulant?
Hulk
(6,699 posts)Last edited Mon Jun 29, 2015, 12:07 AM - Edit history (1)
When we visited Ayacucho and Cuzco, the elevation is so high that if you do NOT drink the coca tea you WILL have symptoms of altitude sickness, which can be awful.
We too a night bus from Lima to Ayacucho; and when we arrived my wife was vomiting and felt awful. It was from going from sea level to whatever the altitude is in the high mountains; but you simply MUST drink the tea or take something for the altitude.
We chewed the leaves when we visited Machu Pichu, and they were not so tasty. Is sort of like chewing a laurel leaf, or some leaf that you simply chew on. It is NOT any more a drug than are aregano (that damned iPad changes spellings of words at will...grrrr. Changed "aregano" to "guano"....which is not at all what I inteded.) or some other herb you might chew. It is used to make the cocaine, but so far from being similar.
Good for the Pope. He would likely be deathly ill if he didn't chew or drink the tea, or take some other drug/chemical/herb to address the elevation difference. It's a necessity.
drm604
(16,230 posts)Didn't even want to use the word "guano". Thanks for the fertilized lesson though.
I get so damned mad at Apple when their products switch the total spelling of a word to something totally foreign to what the writer intends to write. I have to be careful when I am writing on the iPad, as it seems to do this at will. Meant "aregano", the italian seasoning.
Elmer S. E. Dump
(5,751 posts)Hulk
(6,699 posts)Retired teacher here...but we make mistakes too.
Elmer S. E. Dump
(5,751 posts)It doesn't get you high.
Hulk
(6,699 posts)Got together with an old friend this past weekend, and we stopped in to one of the pot stores here in Vancouver, WA, and picked up a small package of marijuana. It's legal here, and this was my first time in a store since it turned legal.
OMG! I couldn't believe the business, the selection and how happy everyone was in there. We bought a little bag....like six "buds", for about $30; but it was the best weed I think I have EVER smoked. I don't smoke often, and hadn't smoked for 35 years since my Nam days; but this stuff was unbelievable.
Just funny you should mention that. And like with marriage equality, it's about time they legalize this herb. OMG! So good to be able to smoke LEGALLY and not worry about POLICE! Neighbors, maybe...but police - no!
Elmer S. E. Dump
(5,751 posts)It sure would be nice!
drm604
(16,230 posts)But it's "oregano" not "aregano".
alfredo
(60,082 posts)Guano is the main ingredient in smart pills.
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)alfredo
(60,082 posts)Alkene
(752 posts)"...writes that he has fully appreciated the beneficient effects of this Tonic Wine and has forwarded to Mr. Mariani as a token of his gratitude a gold medal bearing his august effigy.
Vin Mariani was a tonic and patent medicine created about 1863 by Angelo Mariani, which was made from Bordeaux wine and coca leaves.[3]
The ethanol in the wine acted as a solvent and extracted the cocaine from the coca leaves, altering the drinks effect. It originally contained 6 mg of cocaine per fluid ounce of wine, but Vin Mariani that was to be exported contained 7.2 mg per ounce, in order to compete with the higher cocaine content of similar drinks in the United States. Advertisements for Vin Mariani claimed that it would restore health, strength, energy, and vitality.
truthisfreedom
(23,169 posts)Sigh, oh for simpler times.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)a la izquierda
(11,803 posts)It's legal in Bolivia and Peru to chew coca. You can get coca distilled liquors in Europe, if I'm not mistaken. It takes a whole lot of sketchy chemistry to make coca into cocaine. The leaves aren't addictive and they're nothing like cocaine.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)appalachiablue
(41,221 posts)It was very mild, light in color and had no noticeable effect. We only drank a half cup probably. Being young teens the idea seemed funny at the time. Until this post I never really thought of coco being used to prevent altitude sickness, bizarre.
Good for the Pope visiting Bolivia and going for chewing the coca leaves.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)or so the saying goes.
bmbmd
(3,088 posts)nt
Helen Borg
(3,963 posts)Just saying...
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)They've been using it in the Andes as an appetite-suppressant and mild stimulant for several thousand years. When chewed or taken in a tea, it's on the same level as having a cup of coffee.
White guys outlawed it in the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, but Bolivia doesn't buy into that and, in fact, explicitly rejects that part of the convention.
I've had coca leaf mojitos in La Paz, Bolivia, but I digress...
Coca isn't a problem for the indigenous Andeans. Cocaine is pretty much a white man problem in their view.
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,595 posts)Thanks for the thread, Judi Lynn.
former9thward
(32,179 posts)I don't drink very much tea but it tasted the same as regular tea to me. They told me not to drink alcohol, that it was bad for altitude. I immediately went to the hotel bar for drinks. Had no problems.
joanbarnes
(1,724 posts)Joe Chi Minh
(15,229 posts)Last edited Wed Jul 1, 2015, 06:47 PM - Edit history (2)
coca also used to counter the effects of altitude or some such, as well as for recreational purposes.
I've never taken recreational drugs, other than nicotine and occasionally alcohol in my younger days, but I love the associated ethos, as depicted in the Big Lebowski, before the economic right-wing had not yet managed to screw any and everything creative down, and reduced it to a shadow of itself as it was in the past.
When I think of the range of exuberant pop songs, often with crazy titles, and singers and groups with with crazy names, and the musak that's turned out today, it's very sad. Also, the words told a little story. They meant something to the listeners. But people had a disposable income in those days, and life seemed to full of possibilities. Who could have imagined that one day septuagenarian groups from the sixties would still be on the go today, people are so desperate for an echo of those days.
Now, I also see the darker side of drugs, and suspect that only mescalin and LSD would be beneficial, and that, only if properly regulated for purity and dosage. I believe for some, the effect is nightmarish, anyway.