La hoja de coca. De los Andes al mundo

Abstract

Much has been written about the coca leaf. Public opinion, as well as the media, is not lacking in established ideas about the plant and its uses, which are not necessarily correct and usually take a back seat to the concerns and debates raised by the most famous derivative of the leaf, cocaine, the object of the million-dollar illegal trade carried out by a worldwide network of criminal organisations. One facet of the issue that goes largely unnoticed is that, since the last decades of the 19th century, coca has spread to many countries, in alcoholic and non-alcoholic tonic drinks, and in various medicinal preparations, i.e. the coca leaf has taken a path that has taken it from its native Andes to the world.