Overview
Coca is a plant native to South America known for containing the alkaloid used in cocaine.
Fun fact, the United States has authorized exactly one commercial organization to import and process coca leaves called the Stepan Company with a facility in Maywood, New Jersey. The coca extract, free of cocaine, is sold to The Coca-Cola Company as an ingredient for soda while the filtered cocaine itself is sold to Mallinckrodt as a topical anesthetic for surgeries. Even though the coca leaf extract can be replaced with a synthetically-manufactured substitute, it allows the Coca Cola company to justify keeping Coca in the brand name. This means that the United States government effectively has state-backed monopolies for coca and cocaine within the beverage and pharmaceutical industries.