The article focuses on the sociocultural issues associated with the use of coca leaves in the Andes and Amazon regions. Approaching from a theoretical perspective, it explores scientific articles and magazine and newspaper interviews of distinguished professionals. The study's findings suggest that the tendency to indiscriminately link coca to cocaine, and consequently to drug-trafficking, stems from a historically constructed bias that eclipses the historical and cultural roots of the age-old use of this plant. It is up to psychology as a science to break the silence surrounding indigenous issues and come to understand the dynamics of these peoples' sociocultural processes so that it can figure in spaces where differentiated treatment is required.
coca leaf; culture; health; psychology