1.   As a currency, the coca paste is as good as gold.

2.   But in a dozen towns in the region, coca paste is seen in much less nefarious terms.

3.   Colombian drug mafias used to import tons of coca paste from Peru and Bolivia.

4.   El Combate general store in Sante Fe takes coca paste.

5.   Harvested every three months, the bright green leaves are sold for processing into coca paste, the gummy base used to make cocaine.

6.   Just last month, six tons of coca paste was discovered in a truck in southern Peru, an indication of how ambitious traffickers had become.

7.   Middlemen make the rounds of peasants to buy their raw opium and coca paste.

8.   Most are small-timers, peasants who were nabbed while trying to earn extra money by transporting a few pounds of coca paste, which is used to make cocaine.

9.   Or for villagers at the annual festival in Santa Fe to lug bags of coca paste to buy clothing from traveling salesmen or to bet in the cock fights.

10.   Peasants come to sell coca paste.