If you are struggling with an addiction, then that struggle can itself be the source of constant stress and strife. If someone you love is struggling with addiction then you know the stress and strife is not limited to the person addicted but will definitely extend to those who love the person as well. On both accounts, part of the stress felt is derived from simply not knowing what to do. When it seems like there is no logical reason for this travesty to happen and simultaneously it seems like there is no immediate solution to handle the addiction competently then the result can be personal and societal overwhelms and stress.

This educational series is designed to assist with a part of the overall stress of not understanding why addiction is occurring. With this in mind we begin the history of drug use with an historical view of one of the planets strongest enemies, cocaine.   
 
Coca predates written history in Peru and all of South America. Clear evidence of the predominance and dependence on coca goes easily back to 3500 years ago and beyond with the discovery of coca containers and their accompanying gourd full of shells. When the shells are ground they produce an alkali that makes the coca absorb into the body quicker. This process which is still undergone today in Peru has been unchanged for over 3500 years.

The ancient Inca people, who had at one time become a huge conquering people, show a dependence on coca from before written history all the way until today. Coca was so cherished and widespread that an Inca citizen was buried with it, gifted with it for luck on journeys or headed to war, rationed coca for exemplary bravery shown and more. In truth, the primary thing the culture is based on throughout history is the use of coca. Those who control the coca control the Inca people completely and this seizure of control over the raising and distribution of coca leaves will be used by multiple conquering invaders to enslave the Incas to hard labor while getting large majorities of their pay for selling them their own native coca leaves to continue their reliant habits of coca chewing.

The prime example of the slavery encounter by the Inca people is in the 15th Century at the hands of the Spanish Conquests. The Spaniards invaded and conquered the Inca people, took over the coca production in the area and forced the native Incas to toil in the silver mines to haul silver down the high Andes Mountains to be exported back to the mother Country. The Incas would work to the point of death and live in poverty and squalor, forgoing food purchase for coca purchase. Of course the reason for the purchase of coca was to sustain the energy needed to perform their work. As radical as it might first appear, the Inca people were spending most of the money they could make to purchase coca which facilitated working more to make more money to buy more coca.

The sale of coca had become at that time a huge money maker for the Spanish. This was evidenced poignantly when the very powerful Catholic Church of the day tried to seek a ban on the use and abuse of coca having discovered the enslavement that followed its use. The church had convinced the King of Spain who ruled over Peru that coca use and abuse was immoral and extremely detrimental to the Inca People. However, learning that coca was the #1 industry in Peru as well as the only method of getting the Incan people to work in the silver mines, they promptly denied the ban on coca.

Many more Christian Crusades followed over the years with religious leaders attempting to make the travesties of coca use and abuse end through banning its sale and each one would fail due to the large profits that were being made by the very sale it sought to ban. In short, coca addiction was too profitable to lose, even despite the health and welfare of those who were enslaved by it.

It is clear that even as far back as the early 15th century, drug addiction and the profits born out of controlling drugs and then selling them to those addicted was in full bloom. The similarities to our current predicaments over drug use and abuse versus the profits made by its sale are horrifying and will be included in the coming segments of this history of drugs series. The one key point to make here is that it is the war on addiction , and not the war on drugs that we must strive to handle.  The war on drugs and the legalization issues that follow it only produce changes of who makes a profit from drug abuse and the sale of the substances of abuse. It is only by understanding the true nature of our current drug epidemic that we might proceed with an effective remedy for the masses currently suffering. Meanwhile, large profits will guarantee addiction in massive proportions; the advertising is perfectly honed and the keys to success at drug induced slavery have been known for a very long time. Only mass education will ultimately achieve any notable change in our culture and that education must be achieved by the families and citizens, not be some authoritative select few. It is with this basic purpose in mind that this series is written.

Author: Megan Thorpe