Coca Leaf

This is an educational tool for law enforcement officers, drug educators, and those who have a need or want to learn about the source of cocaine and crack cocaine.There are high-resolution photographs of the coca leaf and some of the products made from the coca leaf and there will be many more to come.

There are more than 250 varieties of the coca plant, but only three are widely used in the illegal cocaine drug trade: * Huanuco coca, grown in Bolivia and Peru * Amazonian coca, grown in the Amazon River basin * Colombian coca, grown primarily in Colombia.

Colombian drug traffickers are responsible for most of the world’s cocaine base production, cocaine hydrochloride (HCl), and wholesale cocaine HCl distribution. While Colombia has long held the dubious honor of being the world’s largest producer of cocaine HCl, Colombia’s role as the world’s largest producer of cocaine base is relatively new. As a result of substantial increases in the size of Colombia’s domestic coca crop, Colombia is now the source of nearly 74 percent of the world’s cocaine base.