The Real Real Thing

Jacob Sullum | December 19, 2005

Yesterday Evo Morales, who promises to legalize coca production (though not the cocaine trade), won Bolivia's presidential election. It's not clear exactly how the coca will be sold, but maybe Bolivia will compete with Colombia, which is already offering a coca-based soft drink.

Notice how the Coca-Cola spokeswoman tells A.P. "cocaine has never been an ingredient" in the company's product. That's true in the sense that the original formula did not include cocaine per se. But like Coca Sek, it did include coca leaf extract, which in turn contains cocaine.

[Thanks to sage for the Coca Sek link.]