Mambe indigena coca colombia crista castellanos

Ypadú or ypadu (also known as mambé) is an unrefined, unconcentrated powder made from toasted

coca Coca is any of the four cultivated plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. Coca is known worldwide for its psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine. Coca leaves contain cocaine which acts as a mild stimulant when chewed or ...

leaves and the ash of various other plants. It is traditionally prepared and consumed by indigenous tribes in the Northwest Amazon. Like coca teas consumed in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

to adapt to sickness induced by high elevation, it has a long ethnobotanical history and cultural associations.

Background

A report by Pien Metaal and others written for the Transnational Institute ("Coca yes, cocaine no?", p. 19) states that:

Contemporary development of an ancient tradition

Foreign visitors to some

Latin American Latin Americans (; ) are the citizenship, citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their Latin American diaspora, diasporas are Metroethnicity, ...

countries have demonstrated an interest in commercial and cultural uses of the stimulant properties of the coca plant, which are less harmful than cocaine which is highly and unnaturally refined. A few websites depict a mild modern preparation of the powdery ypadu mixture using plastic jars and coffee grinders or food processors rather than the traditional implements such as clay vessels and mortar-and-pestles fashioned from wood. Peruvian coca of the species '' Erythroxylum coca'' has reportedly been used in this adaptation to produce effective mixtures with pleasant taste.

Support for the use of Ypadu

Proponents of coca recommend mass production of ypadu as a harmless replacement for heavily refined and concentrated cocaine. They argue that a mild alternative to cocaine would cut into the illicit drug trade and the costs it imposes on societies.

References

{{Reflist

External links

https://web.archive.org/web/20070207042344/http://www.tni.org/reports/drugs/debate13.pdf
(PDF) Preparations of coca