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Coca-Growing in the Andes
The coca plant
(Erythroxylon coca) is a bush that is natural to Bolivia,
Chile, and Peru along the Coca leaves are used in many beneficial different ways: social bonding, religion, magic, medicine, and even bathing (photos come from the Historical Museum in Cusco). Coca leaves contain five vitamins, e.g., A, B1, B2, C; three minerals; calories; and protein. In other words, coca is healthy. The manufacturing of coca leaves into cocaine for the illegal drug trade is not an indigenous (Indian) activity. The demand for cocaine in rich northern countries, such as USA, and governments defining this drug illegal has resulted in destructive eradication strategies in the Andes. Cultivators of coca continue to protest the destruction of their traditional way of life.
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western slopes of the Andes Mountains. Farmers
throughout the Andes have been growing and using coca for
thousands of years, before the Incas and since Spanish conquest in the 16th century.
The practice of chewing coca leaves is part of religious ceremonies,
relieves fatigue, increases mental alertness, physical strength, and
reduces the feeling of hunger. The Spanish encouraged the Indians
to chew coca leaves to disguise the pangs of hunger. 
