Tuesday, January 12, 2010

New Energy Drink?



We are witnessing a cultural and agricultural revolution in the making.

-- First, let me clearly state that Cocaine is a terrible drug. It makes people paranoid, greedy and has caused heart attacks. It's evil stepchild Meth is ten-times worse. Cocaine and Meth are processed with dangerous chemicals, and much like the natural poppy-turned-Heroin, it is corrupted by greed and illegal marketing.
But that's not what is happening in Bolivia.
Here's a short article from the AFP:

"Bolivia banks on 'Coca Colla,' fizzy coca-leaf drink
(AFP) – 2 days ago

LA PAZ — President Evo Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous leader known for chewing coca leaves at UN meetings, is making a fresh push for the plant, this time in the form of the soft drink "Coca Colla."
Intended to rival its more famous US cousin, Coca Cola, the fizzy drink is at the center of a plan coca growers from the Morales stronghold of Chapare in central Bolivia submitted to the government last week to boost coca production.
Farmers proposed the name Coca Colla in reference to people living in the Andean part of the country.
A Vice Ministry of Coca and Integral Development official who requested anonymity said the project would be launched in about four months and that the initiative could be either run by the state or a joint partnership with coca growers.
The official said the drink's packaging would feature a black swoosh and red label similar to the famous Coke insignia.
The fate of Coca Colla is of particular concern to La Paz, which wants to expand coca cultivation. Tea, flour, toothpaste and liquor are already being produced using a coca base.
Bolivia, the world's third largest producer after Colombia and Peru, yielded a coca crop of some 30,500 hectares (75,370 acres) in 2008, an increase of six percent over the previous year, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
Last year, Morales, who also heads the coca growers' union in the Chapare region, vowed to increase the expanse used to grow coca bushes by 20,000 hectares (49,420 acres) in the impoverished Andean country.
Bolivian law currently approves the use of up to 12,000 hectares (29,650 acres) to grow coca in the Yungas stretch of forest in the Andes Mountains for traditional uses such as tea, chewing and religious rituals by the Aymara ethnic group.
Coca leaves have been cultivated in the Andes mountains for 3,000 years and are part of the culture and identity of the people there, according to Morales, who has said some 10 million people in the Andes chew "sacred" coca leaves.
The International Narcotics Control Board has called for years for a ban on coca leaf chewing.
Bolivia's new constitution, drafted by the ruling Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party, says coca is recognized as "cultural heritage, a natural and renewable resource of biodiversity in Bolivia and a factor of social cohesion" and notes that the coca leaf is not a narcotic in its natural state.
The Morales government threw out US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agents in 2008, and the president said he would seek the help of other countries to combat drug trafficking.

(D.R.)-- This is an agricultural revolution to help the poverty-stricken farmers in the Andes. Morales is the first indigenous elected leader of Bolivia, the former head of the Coca growers union.
Coca leaves are a mild narcotic, I know people who have used it while in the Andes. It supplies important minerals to the user and helps with work loads at high altitudes. The Cola produced by this process will probably be healthier than a common energy drink like "Red Bull" or "Rock Star". And remember, the original Coca-Cola used Coca also.
Of course, the product will never be available in Los Estados Unidos, and I probably wouldn't use it anyway. I personally do not drink any Cola products, they are horrible health-wise, loaded with high-fructose corn syrup.
I'll stick with Black Tea, but I have to admire Morales and the general anti-imperialist movement occuring across Latin America at this time.

4 comments:

Charles James said...

Hey DR:

Speaking of drugs, try the book, "The End of Overeating."

They actually compare the food industry tactics to addiction to cocaine, etc.

Enlightening.

Charles

Dojo Rat said...

Charles;
You are right. Look at all the farm subsidies for high-fructose corn syrup!
It's not even food!

AgentGenev said...

applause dojorat for your comments.

but could you please explain to me, how can you possibly decry imperialism while preaching support for horrible imperialists like the democrat party?

it's very puzzling

Dojo Rat said...

Agent:

Ok, I'll take the bait.
I have voted for Green party local candidates in the past, but nationally we are stuck with a two party system.
All my life, all the worst scandals have been committed by arch-conservatives and the Republican party. I mean the assassinations of the Kennedys and MLK. Watergate. Iran-Contra. The election Coup of 2000. ENRON. And the lies surrounding 911, the Iraq war, the stock market crash of '08.
While the Democratic party is heavily influenced by corporations, they are not wholly owned by them like the corportist Republicans. Nor are they bound to Theocrats on the Christian Right.
So for now I vote with the Democratic party, and still hope for progressive change.