Coca Leaves Are Not Cocaine

Leaving Listuguj and Campbellton for a journey to South America is always exciting, as is coming back. With a grant from the Quebec Art Council, I went to Peru to do a research about coca leaves, a plant that Andean people have used for more than 5,000 years. They call it Mama-Coca or Mother-Coca and I brought three leaves with me. Arriving at the Montreal airport, the custom officer was unequivcal. "There are drugs and we have zero tolerance for drugs," she said before seizing the leaves.

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