Hacker News Reader

Comment by eightyone | Hacker News Reader

It's illegal to possess cocoa leaves and extracts of cocoa leaves in the United States of America without a DEA license or prescription. [1]

[1] http://www.erowid.org/plants/coca/coca_law.shtml

View on HN

I am talking about denatured ("decocanized") leaves and leaf extract. In the US, these are ultimately from Stepan, who is the sole American company authorized by the DEA to import and process cocoa leaves. This is coincidentally the company that Coca-Cola buys their denatured coca leaves from.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepan_Company

Thanks for the clarification. I've Googled around and can't find any decocanized sources online. Seems like it would be an interesting business opportunity for someone in South America. I bet Coca-Cola would find some way to put a lot of pressure on you, though.

There is this [1] source. Apparently it's intended for weight-control supplements [2]. Unfortunately, it's $1,000 per kilogram, with a minimum order of 5 kg.

It's possible that coca tea would work. [3]

[1] http://www.macoca.com/

[2] http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Suppliers2/Decocainized-...

[3] http://www.amazon.com/s?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-key...

[4] Hacker News really needs to get Markdown link syntax.

Just in case you don't know, cocoa and coca are two very different plants. Cocoa (or cacao) is the one chocolate comes from, and I'm pretty sure you can own leafs of that.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com