Would it be good for spinal pain? I'm not looking for a buzz, just some pain relief.
edit-Survivorman on Betelnut
https://www.tni.org/en/primer/coca-leaf-myths-and-reality
Coca is a plant with a complex array of mineral nutrients, essential oils, and varied compounds with greater or lesser pharmacological effects – one of which happens to be the alkaloid cocaine, which in its concentrated, synthesized form is a stimulant with possible addictive properties.
The coca leaf has been chewed and brewed for tea traditionally for centuries among its indigenous peoples in the Andean region – and does not cause any harm and is beneficial to human health.
The traditional method of chewing coca leaf, called
acullico, consists of keeping a saliva-soaked ball of coca leaves in the mouth together with an alkaline substance that assists in extracting cocaine from the leaves.
When chewed, coca acts as a mild stimulant and suppresses hunger, thirst, pain, and fatigue. It helps overcome altitude sickness. Coca chewing and drinking of coca tea is carried out daily by millions of people in the Andes without problems, and is considered sacred within indigenous cultures. Coca tea is widely used, even outside the Andean Amazon region. Coca has an established use spread among all social classes, in two Northern provinces of Argentina. There is an increasing use of coca flour as a food supplement.
Because of its stimulant effect coca leaf was originally used in the soft drink Coca Cola. In 1903 it was removed and a decocainized coca extract is one of the flavouring ingredients.
more:
Coca leaf has certainly been an object of controversy for centuries, and has been alternately praised and condemned. Used in its whole form, coca leaf is a
fundamentally benign herbal material which provides vitamin A, riboflavin, iron and calcium, and may also help to regulate blood glucose, thus enhancing metabolism and helping to reduce the tendency toward adult onset diabetes and obesity. Coca leaf is also rich in beneficial antioxidants, including ones that help to protect the integrity of blood vessels. But its concentrated, isolated alkaloid cocaine is a menacing superstar on the global illicit drug stage, and has taken the lives of thousands. This gives testimony to the fact that tinkering with nature beyond a certain point can prove disastrous. Coca tea is good for you, but cocaine can kill you. Today annual South American cocaine production is estimated to exceed one million pounds, much of which goes right up the noses of US citizens.
http://www.medicinehunter.com/coca
