Cocaine in American foodstuffs: What's the limit?

[Derleth]

Thread inspired by Kūka, a product of Kuka Drink, Inc., which is a subsidiary of Hoja de Kuka, Inc., which apparently is indigenous to the little Andean town of San Diego, CA.

According to the Kuka Drink happy talk:

Kūka [koo-ka] is a curiously complex, all-natural, low caffeine coca leaf beverage made from handpicked Andean coca leaves. Its unique blend of natural ingredients will rejuvenate and refresh your energy and thirst. Kuka’s aromatic smell will calm the nerves and excite your senses. Kuka’s natural properties serve as a mild natural stimulant to invigorate and to gradually transfer energy throughout the body. It will hydrate your body and help with better concentration.

Right. No problems there, I’m sure; the only thing they neglect to mention is topical analgesia. Also from the official corporate materials:

Kūka Drink, Inc. is a marketer of beverages made from the coca leaf and other natural ingredients. Our products are made from handpicked Andean coca leaves processed under the surveillance of controlling authorities and according to the EU directive (88/388EEC).

“COUNCIL DIRECTIVE of 22 June 1988 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to flavourings for use in foodstuffs and to source materials for their production (88/388/EEC)” doesn’t explicitly mention coca at all; it’s just about flavorings in general. It also distinctly fails to be American law, which brings me to my question.

Assuming this isn’t just a case of a company lying through its teeth and everyone buying it (the only Google results are official corporate pages and business blog results), Kūka is made from cocaine and nobody cares. I get that Coca-Cola has an absolutely trivial amount of it at this point (at the level of how much is in our currency) due to decocanization, but, assuming they aren’t lying, Kūka gets its caffeine-free buzz from the “natural caffeine” (more happy talk) of cocaine.

How much cocaine can a drink have before a government agency gets to curb-stomp someone?

[code_grey]

@http://aboutcocaleaf.com/

Another beverage sold in the United States containing de-cocainized coca leaves is known as KUKA. Formulated by Kūka Drink, Inc. based out of San Diego, California, KUKA is being sold as an all-natural, revitalizing drink. (www.kukadrink.com)

so what’s the problem again? It is decocainized coca leaf. People have been happy to drink tea made from normal coca leaves in the Andean region for centuries, so how much more so if the bulk of cocaine gets removed through preprocessing?

Actually I think wikipedia article says that even pure cocaine does not produce a real “high” if eaten. The “high” is only achieved by injecting or snorting.

[Superfluous_Parentheses]

From the quotes you provided, it technically says that it’s a natural beverage with coca leaves and caffeine. I would assume that that’s exactly what it is and they’re just vaguely suggesting that it has appreciative amounts of cocaine in it for marketing purposes.

[Ike_Witt]

From Wikipedia:

The pharmacologically active ingredient of coca is the alkaloid cocaine, which is found in the amount of about 0.3 to 1.5%, averaging 0.8%,[1] in fresh leaves.

Have you ever seen videos of cocaine production? The amount of leaves needed is astonishing. However, you just need a few leaves, for coca tea, to give it a unique flavour,

[Derleth]

So, the legal limit for cocaine is near what’s in Coca-Cola now?

[busterpickle]

I did a Google search on the FDA website. At one point, there was some teas being imported that had cocaine and were verified by the DEA to contain cocaine. Also, if you drank the tea, your urine would contain cocaine.

As far as I know, Coca-Cola, does not do any of that. Also, I think the cocaine in Coca-Cola is now urban legend. If it was in any appreciable amount that could be readily be detected then it would be illegal.

I believe, IIRC, that Coca-Cola was marketed as a medicine and it contained cocaine. Which many off-the-shelf drugs and elixirs and what not did back in the day. When your pharmacist was part chemist, herbologist, and part shaman, or whatever. But, by the time Coca-Cola became a mainstream drink it was cocaine free. And, leading up to that point where it became cocaine free the amount of cocaine was very very minute. Probably a by-product of any purification or extraction of any flavors from coca leaves.

But, you also have to be familiar with cocaine production, the leaves by themselves need to go through a process to yield the cocaine. Even chewing them yields nothing unless you have an alkaloid with it to release the “cocaine” itself. I believe the buzz people get off them is indirectly but not directly from the cocaine. I’ll have to re-brush up on that part though.

[psychonaut]

@Derleth

Kūka is made from cocaine and nobody cares.

That’s a terribly disingenuous exaggeration, and is analogous to saying that marzipan is made from cyanide just because untreated almonds happen to contain that toxin. In reality both foodstuffs are made from vegetable matter which happens to contain a small amount of the chemical in question, and which is treated in such a way that most or all of the chemical is removed.