ABBA, God and Me
Okay, so coca is a wonder leaf, we get it. Well, no, it's not, not any more than hemp or soy or aspirin anything else. It's a very old part of a very old culture. I use it daily, and it settles my stomach before bed. It has it's good uses. But let's not ignore the obvious - when processed and refined with chemicals, it can be made into cocaine.
The great majority of coca leaf, believe it or not, does not wind up going up some rich college kid's nose. But it happens.
The DEA has been spraying defoliant on coca fields in South America, because drugs are a problem in the United States. One of the top recipients of U.S. aid is Colombia, which continues its crop eradication program. The highest quality coca leaves by far grow in Bolivia and Peru, which are two very poor countries. Like most poor countries, loans, investment and aid, as well as debt to the World Bank, is tied to eliminating this leaf. If you are an American citizen, this is all being done in your name, just like all the other fun stuff they do in our names.
Well, when I put it that way, it does sound a little unfair of us. But surely our right to have drug free kids counts for something. And narcotraffickers are scary, they often kill people. So let's compare apples with apples. We grow a leaf right here in our own country. Like coca is legal in Bolivia, this leaf is legal here. Only this leaf kills more people in a year than coca could kill in a generation. Right - good guess - tobacco! The only fundamental difference is that when coca is used as intended, it's harmless. Cocaine is certainly harmful, but so is heroin - would we ban poppies? On the other hand, when used as directed, there is a good chance tobacco use will result in cancer.
The governments of these countries may or may not drag their feet on cooperating - that's a matter of opinion. But we are actual drug dealers. We push tobacco exports and advertising on other countries. During the late 1990's, smoking in Thailand was becoming a health crisis, and they moved to have American tobacco (the primary source of their imported tobacco) banned from the country. The United States threatened economic sanctions against Thailand, who relented and allowed our poison back into their country.
So here's my question. If we can spray South American coca fields with pesticides, can countries such as Thailand justifiably send crop-dusters to Virginia and North Carolina to spray tobacco fields?
"La hoja no es una droga"