Bolivia Urgers UN To Defy Washington And Legalise Coca

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 3-20-2006 | Sophie Arie

[mugs99]

Coca was once an ingredient in Coca Cola

That's true, and cocaine fortified wine was endorsed by Pope Leo XIII in those days.
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[mugs99]

Somebosy should alert the Libertarians. I'm sure they'll have 1,001 more handy uses for the Coca leaf these guys never thought of

OK, if you insist!
Want more?

[swmobuffalo]

Sounds like the argument about hemp.

[TKDietz]

"Coca was once an ingredient in Coca Cola."

Coca leaves are still used in Coca Cola, only with the cocaine removed. The Coca Cola Company imports hundreds of tons of coca leaves every year. There is one factory in the U.S. permitted by the DEA to remove the cocaine from the leaves. The cocaine that is removed is used by pharmaceutical companies. It is a powerful topical anesthetic. Novocaine, for instance, is I believe derived from the coca plant. When I broke my nose a couple of decades ago the doctor used some sort of liquid cocaine preparation in my nose along with other anesthetics that he injected in my face before he pulled this big wrench looking thing out and set my nose.

[winston2]

Coca leaves are still used in Coca Cola, only with the cocaine removed.

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What quality might be had from coca leaves after all the strong stuff has been squeezed out? Flavor?

[TKDietz]

"What quality might be had from coca leaves after all the strong stuff has been squeezed out? Flavor?"

That has to be it. I suppose they don't want to deviate too much from the original flavor. Remember "New Coke."

[mugs99]

They also used white wine in the mix to bring out the coca flavor. If they're still using the coca leaves they must be using something else to replace the wine. I have the recipe from 1909, if you want it.
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[winston2]

I have the recipe from 1909, if you want it.

You've got the Coca Cola recipe? I thought it was a very tightly kept secret. Well, if it takes coca leaves or forbid cocaine, you can count me out- I've never even seen any and don't want to. Could, maybe cannabis be used as a substitute? /pun

[mugs99]

Could, maybe cannabis be used as a substitute? /pun

LOL!
Yes, but only if you made the alcohol version. Coca Cola had more than one recipe.
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[TKDietz]

An old recipe I saw from the 1890's had alcohol listed as an ingredient too for the syrup. Maybe they still use alcohol. Maybe they cook it off. They must have cooked it off or something in the original recipe because Coca Cola was not an alcoholic beverage. From what I have read the man who invented it had a successful coca wine business before coming up with Coca Cola. He came up with Coca Cola in response to the temperance movement so that he could sell a coca based product without alcohol.

[chilepepper]

sorry folks, i must side with the bolivians on this one.

legalizing coca leaves will make things *harder* for the drug lords, who will have honest competition for a change... the neat trick will be to make coca products so pervasive that the coca is much more expensive that it is now - coca farmers probably get a penny or two per pound: remember that it takes vast amounts of coca leaves to make cocaine.

if everyone in china, japan, europe and the US bought a 8oz box of coca tea, for $2.99 lets say, the drug lords would be out of business (unless they mutated into tea sellers). they would need probably the equivalent of 50 or 100 boxes for a single line of coke and would be faced with a prohibitively expensive product...

unfortunately, there will arise an unholy alliance of the drug lords, the colombian marxist guerillas and the DEA to quash this idea, since they all have a vested interest in keeping the status quo

[mugs99]

The original Coca-Cola in 1885 only had the amount of cocaine contained in the 1.5 grams of dried coca leaf powder per gallon of syrup. The coca and kola powders were soaked in California white wine fortified to 20%. The amount of alcohol is only about 1 ounce. The syrup wasn't cooked but it was left at room temperature for 24 hours, after all the oils were added, until separation. Very little, if any, alcohol remained after separation. The last cocaine Coca-Cola was bottled in 1929.

There were local variations of the recipe back then just as there are today. That's why Mexican Coca-Cola tastes so much better than American Coca-Cola.

I'm sure they still use alcohol to extract the coca and kola flavors, but any remaining alcohol would evaporate during the modern cooking process.

The Coca-Cola of today does not have the flavor of old. The lime juice has been replaced with citric acid and sodium citrate. The lemon, orange, lime, cassia and nutmeg oils have been replaced with a modern artificial flavor.

[mugs99]

if everyone in china, japan, europe and the US bought a 8oz box of coca tea, for $2.99 lets say, the drug lords would be out of business

You are 100% right. Legal coca products would destroy the drug trade. Farmers in South American would become prosperous middle class Conservatives instead of the starving socialist peons they are now.
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[Centurion2000]

interesting history on coca cola ... thanks.

This coca tea thing might not be a bad idea at all actually. It would destroy the drug trade, but it would make coke lords legimately wealthy with their control over the fields.

[mugs99]

It would destroy the drug trade, but it would make coke lords legimately wealthy with their control over the fields.

They have very little control over growing. They buy the leaf from the farmers. Some would turn legit just like some bootleggers did here after prohibition. The Kennedy's come to mind.

That would be okay though...the drug market would be gone.
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[sagar]

Very well said. Simple economics.