Coca Chewing and High-Altitude Stress: A Spurious Correlation'

intimately connected with the stresses of life in the high Andes -has never been challenged. We shall argue here that this assumption is unjustified. Ethnohistorical and archaeological evidence indicates that, far from being purely a high-altitude phenomenon, coca use was widespread at all altitudes before the European conquest. This being so, the physiological benefits from coca chewing should be of a general nature, rather than altitude-specific. In corroboration, we cite pharmacological data which demonstrate that coca serves as a general stimulant rather than as a special-purpose drug. THE BOTANY OF CULTIVATED COCA