Pharmacological Aspects
The pharmacologically active ingredient of coca is the coca alkaloid, which is found in the amount of about 0.3 to 1.5%, averaging 0.8%, in fresh leaves. Besides coca, the coca leaf contains a number of other alkaloids, including methylecgonine cinnamate, benzoylecgonine, truxilline, hydroxytropacocaine, tropacocaine, ecgonine, cuscohygrine, dihydrocuscohygrine, nicotine and hygrine. When chewed, coca acts as a mild stimulant and suppresses hunger, thirst, pain, and fatigue. Absorption of coca from the leaf is much less rapid and efficient than from the purified forms of cocaine, and it does not cause the euphoric and psychoactive effects associated with use of the drug.
Addiction or other deleterious effects from the consumption of the leaf in its natural form have not been documented in over a 5,000 year time span, thus leading to the logical conclusion that coca left in its natural form causes no addictive properties at all. There is no empirical evidence showing the coca plant's potential for addiction. In fact, coca helps recovering cocaine addicts to wean off the drug in favor of traditional uses, and live their lives without preoccupying themselves with a fix.
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