A traditional remedy for altitude sickness in Peru is coca tea, brewed from the very same leaves that give us the devil’s dandruff, cocaine. The leaves can be chewed, but that’s even more of an acquired taste.
We had four cups each today on our arrival in Cusco (elevation 3,300 meters), and are feeling fine. The leaves are only 0.4% cocaine, so even pro tea drinkers are unlikely to find a buzz. That hasn’t stopped the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs from listing coca leaves as a Schedule I narcotic, on par with cocaine and heroin. Let’s hope these aren’t gateway leaves.
It is legal, however, to sell ‘de-cocafied’ leaves in the US. According to some reports, Coca-Cola imports tons of coca leaves every year for use as a flavoring. They claim that all the cocaine is removed, but even if that’s true, where did it all go?
