Bhumics 18: Coca between Planet and Globe

Preamble

Everyone and their mother recognizes the global nature of the drug trade. Of course the details aren't known to everyone. You may not know exactly how cryptocurrency markets are used to launder drug money. I don't. But I am generally aware that

1. Money is being made,

2. It's illegal, so it has to be laundered, and

3. There are marketplaces for doing so.

Tracing those connections is good detective work, but we don't expect aliens from Mars to be controlling the industry from afar. What is much less known is the planetary nature of the drug trade, starting with the planetary nature of the core substance in the drug trade, i.e., cocaine or heroin. If you look carefully, the planetary interconnections of the coca leaf are apparent, for it's always been embedded in myths and spiritual visions. Psychotropic substances have been central to the planetary history of humanity as such. Unless we situate cocaine (and drugs more generally) in this evolutionary planetary history of what it is to be human, we won't understand it.

There's a further point.

Because of the increasing consciousness of the Anthropocene and human impact on the Earth's systems, we know that the processes unleashed by capitalism are entangled in the Earth's systems with unpredictable consequences. Climate change is the best known example.

That entanglement leads to a paradox:

1. We are lords of the earth. We have become aware of how our immediate historical circumstances, the particular stage of capitalism we're in, inserts human history into

2. A very, very long historical process in which humans play a rather small role. Much of life happened and will happen without our presence in it. We are a sideshow at best.

I suspect that tracing the history of substances and minerals of various kinds - narcotics, silica, rare earth minerals (and of course, carbon), can help us resolve this paradox, for in tracing their connections layer by layer, we can connect the humanities and the social sciences - history, geography, economics etc - with evolutionary and geological processes that don't have humans in them at all. For example, the biochemistry and the neurochemistry that make psychotropic drugs have the effect that they do connects us with nematode worms in unexpected ways. The history of substances is both:

1. Intimate and visceral, and

2. Connected with the oldest developments ever.

It's as if the tracks connecting your village to the nearest town junctioned with tracks that took you to Mars.

There’s a geologic to geology, planetary reason that we will have to uncover as we build a new planetary politics.

Introduction

Some scholars think cooking that made us human, driving biological, social, and cognitive changes that distinguish humans from other primates. The controlled use of fire for cooking allowed early humans to access more energy-efficient diets, leading to significant anatomical and behavioral adaptations. Cooking with fire brings the technology needed for cooking, i.e., fire, together with community, the people who consume the meal. You might argue it's the original 'mode of production,' well before agriculture, and like any other mode of production, it helps create a certain kind of society.

If society is the 'exterior environment' of cooking, there’s also an interior environment. Food gives us nutrients, it enables gut bacteria that interact with our stomachs and our brains and so on. As anyone with a beer belly can tell you, cooking creates bodies of a certain kind that go hand in hand with the societies in which alcohol consumption is a common practice.

Fire is the dominant technology of cooking, but it's not the only one. Fermenting is another. Most narcotics are cooked - tapped, fermented, brewed etc. They are visceral threads connecting our minds, our guts to our friends and family. It should come as no surprise that humans throughout history have been drawn to substances that change how we think and feel. If you look at any culture across the globe — from ancient civilizations to modern societies — you'll find that people have always sought ways to alter their consciousness. We think of the modern drug addict as getting high on their own, taking an essentially anti-social stance. That couldn’t be further from the truth historically speaking, for narcotic consumption was a fundamental part of being human, woven into our religious ceremonies, healing practices and social gatherings, and daily routines.

Coca is no exception.

Coca's journey from a revered spiritual plant to a criminalized substance reveals much about power, culture, and the struggles of Indigenous peoples to maintain their traditions in a changing world. As we explore this history, we'll see that the story of coca and other mind-altering substances isn't separate from human history—it's central to it. By understanding this relationship, we gain insight into who we are and how the modern world was built.

The History of Psychotropic Use

Humans have been altering their consciousness since before written history. Archaeological discoveries keep pushing back the dates of our first encounters with psychotropic substances. In China's Jiahu region around 7000 BCE, people created sophisticated alcoholic drinks combining elements of beer, wine, and mead for both celebration and ceremony.

But humans didn't stop at alcohol. In the Peruvian highlands, evidence shows people using the San Pedro cactus—which contains the hallucinogen mescaline—as early as 8600 BCE. Across Eurasia, ancient shamans consumed Amanita muscaria mushrooms to journey between human and spirit worlds. These practices weren't random or marginal—they were central to how early cultures understood and connected with the universe.

The list of ancient psychotropic substances is remarkably diverse:

• The opium poppy was cultivated in Mesopotamia by 3400 BCE, used both as medicine and in religious offerings.

• Cannabis left traces in 2,500-year-old graves in Central Asia, where it was burned in funeral rituals.

• Ephedra formed the basis of traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years.

• From khat in Arabia to betel nut in Southeast Asia and various psychedelic mushrooms across the Americas, practically every human society discovered and cultivated its own "plant teachers."

From an animist perspective, psychotropic substances are a key medium through which plants exhibit agency in human affairs, so that plant spirits are approximately in the same plane as animal spirits.

Psychotropics were planetary before they became global

The Human Search for Altered States

Why this universal attraction to mind-altering substances? Anthropologists suggest several interconnected reasons:

First, these substances often served as bridges to the divine. Many traditional cultures viewed psychotropic plants not as recreational drugs but as sacred tools for communicating with gods, ancestors, or spiritual forces beyond the physical world. Shamans across cultures used psychotropics to "see" beyond ordinary reality, diagnose illnesses, find lost objects, and guide their communities through difficult transitions.

Second, they strengthened social bonds. Sharing a psychoactive brew, chewing coca leaves together, or passing a pipe around a circle creates powerful connections between people. These shared experiences help form group identity and make social interactions smoother.

Third, these plants provided medical relief. Ancient medical texts worldwide document the use of cannabis, opium, coca, and other plants to relieve pain, suppress hunger, and aid healing.

The history of drug use, then, isn't just about addiction or escape. It's about humanity's eternal quest for meaning, healing, and connection—sometimes through risk, sometimes through ritual, but always as part of our shared human experience.

Now, a brief history of Coca.

Coca: The Sacred Leaf of the Andes

Ancient Origins and Traditional Uses

Coca holds a special place in psychotropic history. This unassuming shrub with its small green leaves has been cultivated in the Andes for at least 8,000 years, making it one of the oldest domesticated plants in the Americas. Archaeological evidence tells us that ancient Peruvians were chewing coca leaves—mixed with alkaline lime to release the active compounds—in communal settings thousands of years ago. Mummies buried 3,000 years ago in northern Chile have cocaine traces in their hair, showing coca was already well established in daily life. Tombs across the Andean region feature figurines with bulging cheeks—the distinctive sign of coca chewing—highlighting how deeply integrated this plant was in pre-Inca cultures.

But why coca? The Andean highlands are one of the world's most challenging environments for human life. At elevations exceeding 12,000 feet, the air is thin, the climate harsh, and growing food difficult. Chewing coca leaves provides a gentle stimulation that suppresses hunger, thirst, and fatigue—crucial advantages in this environment. Moreover, the leaves themselves are nutritionally rich, containing vitamins and minerals that help compensate for dietary gaps in the highlands.

The Inca Empire and Coca's Sacred Role

Coca's importance grew even further in the Incan period. The Incas called it their "Sacred Leaf" and considered it a divine gift, weaving it into every aspect of imperial life. Coca leaves were collected as tribute and distributed by the state. Some historical accounts suggest coca was reserved for royalty, priests, and important messengers, though modern scholars believe this may have reflected temporary scarcity rather than permanent restriction.

In religious life, coca was essential. Priests burned coca leaves alongside llama fat in rituals of healing and divination. They offered coca to the sun god and other deities as a sacred communication tool.

Even in death, coca remained important. Leaves were placed in the mouths of the dead to ease their journey and ensure favor in the afterlife. Inca mummies—believed to retain wisdom after death—were buried with bags of coca leaves, signifying the plant's enduring power across worlds.

But coca wasn't just for the elite. Among ordinary Quechua and Aymara people, exchanging coca leaves marked important moments in life: friendship, courtship, childbirth, and community ceremonies. Sharing coca was—and still is—a sign of trust and hospitality; refusing the offered leaf was considered rude. Special tools like the Poporo (a gourd and stick for mixing lime with leaves) became important cultural artifacts, many of which are still used in communal rituals today.

Any substance that can serve as tribute or as a gift and an object of exchange is a proto-currency.

The Colonial Period

Everything changed when Spanish conquistadors overthrew the Inca Empire in the 16th century. The initial Spanish reaction to coca was hostile—they saw it as "ungodly," a devilish remnant of paganism that needed to be destroyed. The Second Council of Lima, a gathering of Catholic authorities, even called for coca's complete prohibition.

But this moral outrage didn't last long. Spanish attitudes shifted dramatically when colonizers realized coca's practical value, especially in the mines of Potosí. There, indigenous laborers forced to work in brutal conditions chewed coca to endure longer hours with less food and water. Silver from the mines of Potosi The Spanish church, once so opposed to coca, became a reluctant supporter once it was clear that coca increased labor productivity and, by extension, colonial profits.

The silver mined in Potosi and other parts of the Americas played a transformative role in the early growth of capitalism by fueling global trade, enabling capital accumulation, and reshaping economic systems. Between 1545 and 1810, Potosí alone contributed 20% of the world’s silver. At its peak, the mines produced 60% of global silver in the 16th century, making Spain the wealthiest European power. Silver became the backbone of the first truly global economy. Spanish coins (peso de ocho) minted from Potosi silver circulated worldwide, facilitating trade across Europe, the Ottoman Empire, Mughal India, and Ming/Qing China.

Coca was instrumental in keeping those mines going. Just as tea and coffee were marketed to industrial laborers for similar reasons. Stimulants have played a major role in the modern history of exploitation, and more generally, in the planetary becoming global.

Conclusion

What began as a sacred plant integrated into Andean cosmology and social structures, was transformed into a productive force driving colonial extraction and later, global commerce. This shift mirrors the larger movement from traditional knowledge systems to modern productive ones, where efficiency and output trump ritual and meaning.

The coca leaf sits at a fascinating intersection of episteme and moralite. In its traditional context, coca knowledge was inseparable from moral and social practices - the "correct" way to use coca was embedded in communal ceremonies and spiritual understanding. Under colonial systems, this episteme was replaced by a productionist logic that saw coca primarily as a tool for labor exploitation. Today, coca exists in a complex moral twilight: sacred leaf in the Andes, illegal substance globally, and essential component of a shadow economy that mirrors legitimate commerce.

This transformation reveals how planetary systems become global ones. Coca was planetary before colonization - integrated into local ecosystems, societies, and belief systems. Its globalization through cocaine production represents a different kind of system: one driven by market logic, technological processing, and worldwide distribution networks. This shift from planetary to global parallels other production systems that have reshaped Earth's systems for human purposes.