Why are coca leaves illegal around almost all of the world? Why are coca leaves banned if they aren’t actually any more harmful than caffeine?

[WhiteBoyChill]

For the record, I’ve never tried coca leaves before in my life.

But I’ve heard they are common in South America in Andean culture. People have been chewing the leaves and adding them to tea for thousands of years.

Coca leaves aren’t even the same thing as “cocaine” itself yet Governments around the world draw no distinction.

They don’t cause any sort of drug overdoses in the same way cocaine itself does. I just can’t understand why coca leaves were ever declared or considered a “narcotic” in the first place if they just aren’t.

Coca leaves and cocaine just aren’t the same thing.

Nobody’s ever died of a drug overdose from coca leaves. The plant itself in its original form just isn’t a narcotic.

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/14/opinion/14morales.html

https://psychedelicspotlight.com/i-tried-chewing-coca-leaf-for-a-week/

[Drewtate]

Because its related to cocaine. Can you grow coca leaves without the cocaine by product. Obviously coca cola can do it.

[WhiteBoyChill]

Why don’t they just start a program where people can grow coca plants if they obtain a license and register with local government?

[Drewtate]

Because they be snorting cocaine.

[WhiteBoyChill]

I’m sure some people would, but not everybody

[Drewtate]

Well that's what we are told but you aren't also allowed to grow your own tobacco and smoking is legal. There have been attempts in the past to stop people growing their own food and if brewing your own beer ever started to cost less than buying it then that would be banned or would require a special licence