Recently, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made news in the United States when he made a statement indicating that his friend, Bolivian President Evo Morales, sends him coca leaves, which he chews on a daily basis, without any negative health effects. This raised many an eyebrow among members of the Bush administration. Although consumption of coca in its purified form -- cocaine -- is not legal in the United States, other countries do include coca consumption among their ancient traditions.
As crazy as it may seem, coca chewing is not considered an illegal act or even a shocking thing to do in many other parts of the world. Coca has been used for medical reasons for centuries in the Andes: it is a non toxic, natural energizer and appetite suppressant similar to coffee; it is rich in vitamins and minerals; it calms vertigo, headaches and stomach problems; it helps with weight loss and wasting syndrome due to AIDS; and is also used for natural birth deliveries.
Coca leaves can be chewed, served as a tea, smoked or baked into pastries. The shamans in the Andes also use it for religious purposes: to enter the spiritual world and to read the future in the coca leaves.
Even today, it is not considered punishable for professional soccer players to drink coca tea when they're traveling to play in the Andes since it is well known coca tea (as with coca leaf chewing) helps overcome altitude sickness. In Peru, coca tea is openly served in hotels and restaurants as a digestive tea to people of all ages. It is so much a part of the culture that coca products are openly sold at the airport (coca candy, coca cookies) without anybody even considering for a second that this might be an illegal act elsewhere.
Nevertheless, Peru is one of the countries that signed the United Nations Vienna Convention in 1961 regulating drug production. According to this convention, coca cultivation is permitted but all production must be regulated by a government agency.
Just because it is not part of the American culture does not make it immoral. We must consider that other societies, other nations, may have their own traditions and ways of life, which have been inherited from prehistoric cultures living in ancient times. We cannot impose the "occidental" traditions as the only, correct way. We must be open to other customs and not prejudge them.