Coca

Erythroxylum coca

Regulated or restricted

An Andean shrub whose leaf is a traditional altitude chew — and the agricultural source of cocaine.

Coca leaf and cocaine are controlled. Traditional chewing and tea are legal in parts of the Andes and illegal in the United States. Cultivation outside licensed traditional zones is a crime.

Whole coca leaf, chewed with an alkali or taken as mate de coca, is a mild stimulant in Andean culture, distinct from isolated cocaine. US law does not make that distinction for private citizens. This entry exists so the plant can be placed on the map of materia medica and so no one confuses a travel tea with a legal home crop.

Flavor

Traditional leaf is green, tea-like, and slightly numbing. Isolated cocaine is not a food.

Parts used

Leaf — traditional Andean use only

In favor

Deep cultural food-medicine in its home range

Against

US possession and cultivation are illegal
Isolated cocaine is highly addictive
Illicit processing is violent and toxic