Coca production

Fifteen of the over 200 species of Erythroxylon produce coca but E. coca and E novogranat-ense now dominate coca production. These two small bushy shrubs grow well in the... 

More than half (57 %) of all seizure cases involved cannabis (herb, resin, oil, plants and seeds). Opiates (opium, morphine, heroin, synthetic opiates and poppy seeds), accounted for 17 per cent, with heroin alone accounting for 14 per cent of the total. This is followed by seizures of the amphetamine-type stimulants (12 %). About half of these seizures (or 5.5 % of the total) is accounted for by methamphetamine, followed by amphetamine (2.5 %) and ecstasy (2%) the rest (2 %) includes Captagon tablets (Near East) and Maxiton Forte (Egypt), ephedrone (methcathinone) and various undefined amphetamines. Coca products account for 9 percent of global seizure cases the bulk of coca related seizure cases concern cocaine (8 % of total). 

Cocaine is an alkaloid derived from the plant Erythroxylon coca and other Erythroxylon species in South America. The leaves contain cocaine as the principal alkaloid, plus a variety of minor alkaloids. Only decocainized coca products are legal in the USA, but some commercially available tea products have been found in the past to contain cocaine in a concentration normally found in coca leaves (about 5 mg of cocaine per 1 g tea-bag). This results in only mild symptoms when package directions to drink a few cups per day are followed, but massive overdosing can result in severe agitation, tachycardia, sweating, and raised blood pressure. 

The Spanish missionaries took a dim view of coca because they saw it as idolatry and thus a barrier to conversion. Because of its social importance, however, the Spanish eventually took over coca production and distribution and used coca as a tool to control the conquered population. 

Pizarro s conquest of the Incas in the sixteenth century forever changed the use of coca leaves in Peru. Once reserved for Incan priests and soldiers, chewing coca leaves became widespread when Spanish conquerors used coca leaves as payments for Incan laborers. Eventually, the Spanish took over coca production and cultivation completely from the Incas. 

The joule, symbol J, is the unit of energy in the science connntinity. It is not widely used outside the science community in the United States, but it is elsewhere. For example, in the United States, the energy content of a food product is likely expressed in food calories. This energy could be expressed in joules, and that is being done in many parts of the world. A Diet Coca Cola in Australia is labeled Low Joule rather than Low Cal as in the United States. To obtain a feeling for the size of a joule, consider the following statistics ... 

But cocktails are part of the plan. Wolf s Royal Cream Soda is good, if you like cream soda (I do). For the record, it s kosher, too. The production of Absolut is supervised by Rabbi Moshe Edelmann in Sweden. Dr. Brown s Cream Soda, which originated in 1869 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, bears the KOF-K certificate of rabbinical supervision. Dr. Brown s drinks, including cherry soda and Cel-Ray Soda, a seltzer produced with celery seed, were most popular in Jewish delis before Coca-Cola became kosher, early in the 1930s. 

In a joint project between the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and Coca Cola Enterprises in the UK it proved possible by redesigning bottle production to reduce the weight of 500 ml PET bottles by 8%. These lighter bottles meet all of the required performance standards, and when production reaches the full scale of 700 million p.a. will save 1400 tonnes of PET. This may seem to be a small improvement, but lightweighting of drinks bottles has been a continuous process for many years, and yet progress is still possible. 

Another way to protect a competitive edge for a new product is to protect it by secrecy. The formula for Coca-Cola has been kept a secret for over 100 years. Potentially, there is no time limit on such protection. However, for the protection through secrecy to be viable, competitors must not be able to reproduce the product from chemical analysis. This is likely to be the case only for certain classes of specialty and food products for which the properties of... 

The coca leaf is either consumed by the natives of South America or exported to other countries for consumption. Another use of the coca leaf is in the extraction of cocaine either for illegitimate or legitimate use. The majority of the legal and/or clandestine cocaine factories are in South America due to the cost and bulk of transporting the whole leaf. In 1961, Bolivia produced an annual crop of from 12,000 to 18,000 tons of leaves although only half reached the legal market. The alkaloid cocaine is extracted from the coca leaf in basically three different chemical procedures. These procedures are used both in licit and illicit labs in the production of cocaine. 

Coca, J., Adrio, G., Jeng C. Y. and Langer, S. H. In Preparative and Production-scale Chromatography, Ganetsos, G. and Barker, P. E. (eds.) (Marcel Dekker, 1993), Chapter 19. Gas and liquid chromatographic reactors. 

The use of scheduled substances in the illicit manufacture of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, depicted in figures A.I-A.IV below, represents classic production and manufacturing methods. The extraction of cocaine from coca leaf and the purification of coca paste and the crude base products of cocaine and heroin require solvents, acids and bases. A wide range of such chemicals has been used at all stages of drug production. 

This product is estimated to hold 30% of the European aspartame market. A new 2,000 ton/a plant was built by the end of 1993, which should provide sufficient capacity to allow supply to Pepsi and Coca Cola who together represent ca. 70% of the total market for aspartame. 

Another familiar name in the chemical industry is Monsanto. Monsanto was founded in St. Louis as a producer of food additives in 1902 by John Francis Queeny (1859-1933). Queeny named the company after his wife s maiden name. Its first product was saccharin. Saccharin was not produced in the United States at that time and had to be imported from Germany. Queeny and his associates sold saccharin to soft drink producers Coca-Cola was one of his... 

Though contained, there are indications that the supply side of this market remains adaptive. The success in the reduction of coca cultivation from 2000 to 2006 did not lead to a decline in cocaine production. In recent years, the use of fertilizers and pesticides, and better production technology, have improved coca yields, leaving cocaine production largely stable over the last few years (1,008 mt in 2004, 980 mt in 2005, 984 mt in 2006). 

If only the area under coca cultivation is considered, a small decline by 2 per cent to 157,000 hectares was reported for the year 2006. As compared to the year 2000, the area under coca cultivation in the Andean region declined by 29 per cent in Colombia, it fell by as much as 52 per cent. This progress was, however, not translated into a decline of global cocaine production, due to improved yields and production techniques. Global cocaine production is estimated to have remained basically unchanged in 2006 as compared to a year earlier or two years earlier. Following a revision of yield estimates, global production is now estimated at 984 mt. A decline in Colombia (-5 %) was compensated by increases reported from Bolivia (+18%) and Peru (+8%). 

Increases in 2005 were reported for coca leaf, cocaine, the amphetamines as well as GHB and LSD. As global cocaine production remained unchanged, the strong increase in cocaine seizures is likely to have been the exclusive result of effective and successful law enforcement. Though amphetamines seizures increased in 2005 they are still below the peak levels of 2000 and 2001. Global trafficking in amphetamines over the last five years has remained basically stable. 

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