IANAMod, but I beleve that questions about how to do illegal things, (Like manufacturing narcotics, effective murder techniques, napster) are Very Frowned Apon.
Coca leaves themselves are legal to buy, sell, possess and chew in Peru and Bolivia and, I assume, other countries where the coca shrub is widely cultivated. You can easily buy them at public markets. It’s making cocaine from them that is illegal.
Chewing coca leaves is a centuries-old tradition in parts of South America. It’s said to give the chewer a slight pick-me-up, along the lines of a cup of coffee. It will not get you high.
Like I said I did not know it was against the rules. If it indeed is against the rules mods please close this thread. Like I said I just wanted the general answer not a step by step process.
And isn’t anal sex still illegal in a few states why is it allowed to be talked about on this board?
Of course. We’re both adults and we’re honest with each other. Are you suggesting that she should have been ashamed of what she’d done? A legal activity with no harmful results?
No lucky it is cool your mom is open with you. It is just the way society is these days that made me think wow. I mean look at the way particlewill is freak’n out that I would I even ask a question about how cocaine is derived from coca plants just for general knowledge.
A.) I am not freaking out. I am marveling that manhattan hasn’t jumped on this thread like stinky on poopie yet. He has a reputation of stamping out this sort of thread.
B.) General knowledge? That makes asking questions about illegal activities ok? I wanna know how to make fertilizer into a bomb, just for general knowledge. Can anyone out there tell me? I was discussing it with a friend. It’s ok because they are discussing anal sex over there…
sheesh.
Google google google. Search on “cocaine production leaves” and you’ll get some hits which should tell you all you desire. Some may even go into more detail than is decent. I won’t post links since they’ll probably get deleted. As for why this thread hasn’t been closed,particlewill, there’s really no need to as long as the answer is general enough to be informative without being cookbook specific. The information itself isn’t illegal and isn’t useful though some mods probably prefer to be safe and conservative.
I think the basic fact that coca leaves are pretty scarce in most of the SDMB’s viewing area gives the mods some protection. We’re not talking about boiling down oak leaves or something to make a narcotic. We’re talking about something that is virtually impossible to come by.
No worse a discussion, IMHO, than talkinga bout nuclear bomb building. Anyone here have easy access to enriched uranium? I didn’t think so.
IIRC, one of the things used to derive cocaine from coca leaves is acid. As in, glacial acetic acid, I think. I think I have seen footage of peasants stomping leaves in buckets of acid, like Lucy Ricardo did in the wine vat.
This acid can maim, but hey, the drug lords aren’t going to do it themselves.
This thread gave me my best worchuckle today. You guys are killing me… cocoa, heroine!
I hiked the Inca Trail from Olyantabo (sp?) to Machu Picchu back in '89 or so. We bought bags of coco leaves, sandwich sized, plus this “elixir” that looked like a little brick of hash. You put some leaves in your mouth, nipped off a little of the elixir and tried not to gag. No, no buzz was forthcomming, you simply didn’t get as hungry and your feet didn’t ache quite as much from the hike & climb. Believe me, the buzz was much greater just from the scenery.
Ed. note - Now that freaking cocoas sh*t they sold in the back alleyways of town (Cusco) was gd unbelievable!
Sheesh! I get a pit thread when I close a drug thread and a scolding when I don’t!
Partly to see what happens, we’re gonna leave this one open for now, with the following provisos:
a) Possession of coca leaves is not legal in the United States, making the exercise academic for United States residents (if I am in error here, please let me know).
b) Folks can post generically about how to separate cocaine from coca, but please refrain from being too specific. For example, “It becomes powder because the reaction with a catalyst creates a paste, which is then dried and chopped” is OK, but “you want to soak the leaves in a solution of (specific solution) for (specific time), etc.” would be kind of borderline.[sup]1[/sup]
c) Information about distribution or sales in the United States is right out.
We may have to do some editing here, but no one need fear being banned because of a single post that goes over the line.
Carry on.
[sup]1[/sup] I have no idea whatsoever whether those tidbits are factually correct; they are illustrative only.
Good description of the extraction process about halfway down - look for “Cocaine Processing”.
Manhattan may delete that link if he feels it is far too specific, but, since this is a DEA document located on the site of a legitimate political action group (albeit one with a definite agenda), it may be OK. It’s not some anarchist site.
It is my belief that coca, is also used to make cocoa. In fact I would be willing to bet on it.
Organic chemistry is a very interesting subject. But I can assure you, that they do not make methamphetamine from coca. They do not make heroine from it either.
Heroine is made from poppies, I believe it is the seeds that play the major role.
Methamphetamine can be made from so many different plants and other substances it would amaze you. Examples are dill, licorice, perfume ingredients, ephedrine, psudoephedrine,(sp) and basically half the plants on this planet. The trick is you have to use different procedures in each case. The most common one is the reduction of the ephedrines, with Hydriodic Acid. Basically sudafed tablets, mixed with Iodine crystals and red phosphorus. (An amazing reaction) For the record, there is no possible way that this reaction can “blow up”. Since meth labs are always suppose to be in danger of blowing up, according to the government, that should tell you something.
I will try to find the proof that cocaine and cocoa come from the same plant. If you can prove me wrong feel free. The other information I know is correct.
Manufacturing cocaine is not necessarily illegal. I’ve had a physician administer cocaine to me and I presume he acquired it from a legally sanctioned pharmaceutical manufacturer. My former brother-in-law was a physician who picked up an ounce ($20!!) of it when he joined a ski patrol.
Cocaine is made by placing coca leaves in plastic-lined(Visqueen) beds, basically a 4’x8’ sheet of plywood with a 4" lip around the edge. Jet fuel or some other solvent is then poured into the beds which saps out all of the psychoactive chemicals. Three weeks later after all of the solvents have evaporated and a fine white powdery residue has coated the plastic, it is scraped off and packaged for shipment. Sometimes pure cocaine is tinted pink because of the red industrial dyes used(like those found in diesel fuel) by the manufacturer of the jet fuel.
According to the host of a program I saw on the Discovery Channel (I think it was “Journeys to the Ends of the Earth”) the chewing of coca leaves is not only quite entrenched in many cultures in Peru, but it hasn’t caused any “drug problems” like we see with cocaine.
The reason? Strength. Apparently the amount of coca leaves you’d have to chew to equivocate one line of coke is enough to fill two large plastic garbage bags. Even the most har-core chewers don’t consume enough in a day to create destructive addictions, destroy their diets, or act like jerks at parties (the three downfalls of coke, IMHO).
It’s sort of like caffeine, or booze. If they ever made a pill equivalent to 20 cups of coffee, I’m sure the FDA and DEA would jump right in and regulate/ban it. And most states already have different regulations/licensing for liquor than beer, for the same reasons.
As far as coco and cocoa being the same, well obviously they are not, but think of the possibilities if you combined them: Chocolate Cocaine!
You could call it Cocoacaine, or Chococaine. Maybe mix in some coffee beans and call it Mochaine, or Cocainespresso. I’d buy a cup. Modeling agencies would order it by the truckload!
Not sure how one would go about equivocating a line of coke but I assure you that no one would bother chewing coca leaves if your formula was correct. Concentrations vary from .25 to 1% in leaves with about 350kg of leaves to produce 1kg of cocaine. In other words a gram, which contains 10 to 20 lines depending on your preference, is made from less than a pound of leaves.
Whether there are problems from chewing in Peru is a debatable point. Certainly there are not the socially induced problems which the war on drugs imposes in America.