In 1551 the Bishop of Cuzco outlawed coca use on pain of death because it was 'an evil agent of the Devil'.
Coca was initially banned by the Spanish. Coqueros exploited its stimulant properties to ward off fatigue and hunger, enhance endurance, and to promote a benign sense of well-being. The natives used coca for mystical, religious, social, nutritional and medicinal purposes. In pre-Columbian times, the coca leaf was officially reserved for Inca royalty. Cocaine, alas, offers only a tragically delusive short-cut. 'Peak experiences' will become a natural part of everyday mental health. Gradients of life-long happiness will be genetically pre-programmed. Mature enhancements of currently drug-induced states of euphoria will be transformed into a absolute presupposition of sentient existence. If the predictions of The Hedonistic Imperative are vindicated, then future millennia will witness what Robert Anton Wilson once called 'hedonic engineering'. The drug induces a sense of exhilaration in the user primarily by blocking the reuptake of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the midbrain. It is a powerfully reinforcing psychostimulant. Cocaine is an alkaloid found in leaves of the South American shrub Erythroxylon coca.
