Andean Cocaine

The key feature that seems to distinguish coca leaf and cocaine from many of the other commodities that we’ve discussed thus far is the fact that the transformations in the market were enormously influenced primarily by political forces. It also serves to illustrate how attempting to eliminate the market for a good without being able to effectively eliminate demand for that good simply leads to the flowering of an extensive illicit market for that good. This collides with the enormous importance coca and its derivatives had for Andean nations, especially Peru, in creating a national pride and identity and serving a culturally significant position. The commodities position as a nationally produced good for expert and as a distinctive product developed there, both in the form of agricultural cultivation and the creation of the process to create crude cocaine, made it a significant influence in the solidification of the Peruvian nation and state. It is an intriguing conflict to observe, between the changing usages and values placed on the consumption end of the chain and the varieties of stubborn persistence from the producers both individually and collectively. Additionally, coca/cocaine seems to be a commodity that changed more frequently throughout than the majority of other products, with the possible exception of sugar and perhaps also cacao/chocolate. Its transformation from energizing supplement to medical product to recreational drug, and all the stages in between lends itself to commodity chain exploration, observing how the movement of the product changed as the product’s meaning and social identity was transformed either through changes in demand or through political forces being brought to bear on elements of the chain.