COCA FURTHERMORE THE CONTROVERSY WITH COCAINE

Aa way of introduction it is often saint that Coca is known as the ancient leaf
of Bolivians, this brings up the question of whether is the coca leaf good? Why
does the title of the topic say it is controversial? Incidentally, we must not forget a
large percentage of Bolivians consume coca at some point, even foreigners
consume it when they arrive in our country.

Firstly, for the great majority of people of Bolivia the Coca is used to cure many
things for instance sometimes spoiled food or the cold causes stomach pain, in
these cases, chewing some coca leaves can relieve the pain, or when a foreigner
arrives from a trip he feels a headache. In these cases, the first thing a Bolivian
does is recommend a coca tea.

Secondly, it is often said that Coca is cocaine, this leads to confusion for instance
recently through social networks I spoke to a Canadian and he asked me where
are you from? I told him I am from Bolivia, his immediate reaction was "oh cocaine"
therefore bad information can give a bad image as well as foreigners may think
that all Bolivians are drug traffickers.

As conclusion, Coca is a remedy for many minor pains, that is why Bolivians
consume it, however for many foreigners coca is the same as cocaine owing to
unfortunately it is said that coca is an ingredient of cocaine thus this leads them to
generalize as well as think that Bolivians are cocaine producers.