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Peru's president recommends coca
Peruvian President Alan Garcia
President Garcia said he had personally cooked with coca leaves
The coca leaf, from which the drug cocaine is derived, should be used in cooking and salads, the president of Peru has suggested.
President Alan Garcia said on Tuesday that coca leaves had many valuable uses, including giving relief from sore throats and colds.
Mr Garcia suggested the legal use of coca as a way of fighting cocaine production and trafficking.
Peru is the world's second largest producer of cocaine behind Colombia.
The coca plant has been used for centuries by Andean people for medicinal and ceremonial purposes, and has sacred status in some South American indigenous cultures.
Alternative uses
Mr Garcia's comments came at a press conference for foreign correspondents at the government palace in Lima.
Although some of Mr Garcia's ideas sounded unorthodox, he insisted that the coca plant could be used for nutritional and medicinal purposes.
He said that "normalising" relations with the coca leaf was a necessary step in combating illegal cocaine production and trafficking.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6196287.stm
Peruvian President Alan Garcia
President Garcia said he had personally cooked with coca leaves
The coca leaf, from which the drug cocaine is derived, should be used in cooking and salads, the president of Peru has suggested.
President Alan Garcia said on Tuesday that coca leaves had many valuable uses, including giving relief from sore throats and colds.
Mr Garcia suggested the legal use of coca as a way of fighting cocaine production and trafficking.
Peru is the world's second largest producer of cocaine behind Colombia.
The coca plant has been used for centuries by Andean people for medicinal and ceremonial purposes, and has sacred status in some South American indigenous cultures.
Alternative uses
Mr Garcia's comments came at a press conference for foreign correspondents at the government palace in Lima.
Although some of Mr Garcia's ideas sounded unorthodox, he insisted that the coca plant could be used for nutritional and medicinal purposes.
He said that "normalising" relations with the coca leaf was a necessary step in combating illegal cocaine production and trafficking.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6196287.stm