Mr. Martin Condon:

I have an honours degree in herbal science and have done considerable research into traditional use of plant-based medicines, as they might otherwise be known. When coca was traditionally used in places like Peru at high altitudes, it was very beneficial for people. In the way they used it, it did not impose the harms we associate with cocaine today. That was primarily because they used it in its natural form. They were not extracting it and were not concentrating it. That is a product of prohibition that came somewhat later. In fact, it was a product of Coca-Cola. Coca was being put in Coca-Cola. This became a problem and the coca was then removed. Prohibition came afterwards. The market came first and the prohibition came afterwards. Dana Larsen of the Drug Users Liberation Front in Vancouver has a coca leaf tea café. People who might be regarded as problematic users of cocaine see that as a stepping stone and a way to reduce the harms associated with their overuse of or addiction to cocaine. They drink the tea or a more traditional way is to chew it and keep it in the gums. The harms are drastically reduced when it is used in that form as opposed to the more concentrated forms.