Cocaine Leaves in Coca Cola?
Coca leaves have been chewed and consumed as tea and a pain killer for thousands of years in the high Andes. Indigenous tradition and scientific studies have both confirmed that in their natural form, the leaves are completely safe and non-addictive — it takes intensive processing and toxic chemical ingredients to produce cocaine.
Despite this, the United States still aggressively pursues an eradication policy that encourages Andean governments to spray their forests with toxic chemicals to eliminate this crop, thereby eradicating the ability to make cocaine. In fact, I’m sure you know that it is illegal to import or possess the leaves under U.S. law.
Unless you’re the Coca-Cola company.
In an effort to preserve the traditional flavor of the best-selling drink, the company long ago convinced the U.S. government to exempt it from the law.
Coca-Cola manages to keep this importation of coca leaves secret by sending them to a nondescript processing lab known as the Stepan Company. In 1922, the Jones-Miller Act banned cocaine imports into the United States, but Coca-Cola (and its lab) was granted an exception. This exception remained a secret until the late 1980′s when the New York Times seemed shocked to discover the truth.
Approximately 100 metric tons of coca leaves are imported to the Stepan Company each year under “special permission” from the DEA. And if you don’t believe that it goes to making Coca Cola, then an almost as disturbing question is, “Where, then, does all the cocaine go?”
Whether the coca leaves are addictive or not, the American people deserve the right to know exactly what is making it into their favorite drink.