Alcohol and Drugs History Society

Peru's organic cocoa (and coffee)

Peru already is the largest exporter of organic coffee.  It now hopes to carve a niche in organic cocoa.  Peru currently is a distant second place as an exporter of organic cocoa.  Its quality is praised by European chocolatiers. Peru hopes that people will come to think about Peru when talking about quality chocolate products as they now talk about Colombia when talking about quality coffee.   For more, see here.

Books from WHO and PAHO on Alcohol and Harm

Unhappy Hours: Alcohol and Partner Aggression in the Americas, by (Editors) Kahryn Graham; Sharon Bernards; Myriam Munne; Sharon Wilsnack, June, 2009, The Pan American Health Organization, "brings to light evidence of alcohol's impact on partner aggression from 10 countries in the Americas (Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Uruguay, and the United States)"

Alcohol and Injuries, Emergency Department Studies in an International Perspective, May, 2010, The World Health Organization "synthesizes the results of studies from a number of hospital emergency departments conducted in different cultural settings, including the World Health Organization s Collaborative Study on Alcohol and Injuries."

Drink, power, and society in the Andes (book)

Justin Jennings and Brenda J. Bowswer, Drink, Power, and Society in the Andes (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2008).

Beer sales go flat in so-called emerging economies

Beer sales have gone flat in many so-called emerging economies.  The decline has been especially sharp in Russia, Colombia, and South Africa.  There are exceptions, for instance, Peru.  For details, see here.

Cocaine and the Environment

A case study published in the Trade and Environment Database, at the American University in Washington, DC, reports that the production of cocaine in South America, especially the Andean region, has had a devastating impact on the environment. Find the full report here.

Cocaine research in Peru in the 1880s (article)

Pau Gootenberg, "A Forgotten Case of 'Scientific Excellence on the Periphery': The Nationalist Cocaine Science of Alfredo Bignon, 1884-1887," Comparative Studies in Society & History 49/1 (2007): 202-232.

Still true

Australian customs officers have discovered nearly 300 grams of ecstasy tablets hidden inside a Mr. Potato Head toy sent to Australia from Ireland.

Find the full story here.

In a related story, customs officers in the Netherlands discovered cocaine stashed in the backs of more than 100 large, dead bugs sent from Peru to the Netherlands.

“We see a lot of things, but this was a first for us,” customs spokesman Kees Nanninga said Thursday.

“It looked like they were cut open, the drugs hidden in their backs and then they were glued back together again,” he said.

The insects held only about 10 ounces of cocaine, worth about $11,000, Nanninga said.

Read more here.

Seven die in coca ambush in Peru

Suspected rebels in Peru have killed seven men, including five policemen, in an ambush in the country's coca-growing interior.

The BBC reports.

Aymara Indians (article)

Fernandez J., Gerardo. “’Todos Santos’: ‘Todos Almas.’” Revista Andina 16:1 (July 1998), 139-159. [In Spanish; on folk rituals of Aymara Indians.]

opium and Chinese coolies in 19th cent. Peru and Cuba (article)

Eveykn Hu-DeHart, "Opium and Social Control: Coolies in the Plantations of Peru and Cuba," Journal of Chinese Overseas 1/2 (November 2005): 169-183. In late 19th century about 250,000 Chinese coolies worked in Peru and Cuba.