Thanks to the Drug Policy Alliance for alerting me to the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) 2007 annual report. It calls for Peru and Bolivia to ban non-medical and non-scientific purposes of the coca leaf.
I've been to Peru. That coca leaf tea really helps to prevent altitude sickness. At altitudes of over 10,000 feet, altitude sickness could be severe. Instead of criminalizing traditional uses of the coca leaf, we should ship that tea to every ski lodge in the Rockies and Alps.
In contrast to the pressure on Peru and Bolivia, the U.S. got a free pass. Not a single recommendation. Not even a mention of renegade province California. The word "California" does not appear in the North America section of the report. Even worse, the report favorably portrays the ridiculous TV ads that say if you buy a bag of weed, the terrorists win.
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Lest anyone think drinking coca tea is anything like snorting cocaine (it ain't), here are a couple of facts. One coca leaf contains .1 to .9 percent cocaine. You will need at least 100 kilos of coca leaves to make 1 kilo of cocaine. (To put it in US weights - you'd need 220 pounds of leaves to make 2 pounds of cocaine). At any rate, it's a fuck of a lot of leaves. You might need 2 leaves to make tea.
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