Beer Infused With Coca Leaf — the Same Used to Make Cocaine — Causes a Stir as the Ingredient Fights for International Recognition

Tucked beneath the Andes mountains in La Paz, Bolivia, El Viejo Roble distillery is expanding its catalog with a coca-infused beer, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. Alongside an expansive range of coca-infused rums and vodkas, the producer has made a name for itself by using coca leaf — the main ingredient in cocaine — to create its signature beverages. Within Bolivia, the concept is hardly taboo. Coca leaf has long held spiritual significance for Indigenous communities in the Andes, who've reportedly used the leaf in ceremonies dating back to 1,000 BC . Today, you'll regularly find locals munching on the leaves raw, imparting a caffeine-like boost far divorced from the addictive high of cocaine. El Viejo Roble's beer comes on the heels of an international effort to reassess the ingredient. In October, the World Health Organization announced that it would conduct a "critical review" of coca leaf's non-psychoactive properties. Findings are expected to be submitted to the United Nations' Commission on Narcotic Drugs by 2025. In light of the study, farmers are now rallying around local products that may soon be propelled onto the world stage.

“This is a coca-growing town that lives off coca,” Frido Duran, a coca grower in Yungas, Bolivia, told the Associated Press. “We are convinced that this (WHO) study will vindicate all that our grandparents taught us.”

Though communities in South America have been consuming coca leaf for centuries, cocaine as we know it today wasn't invented until colonists brought the ingredient back to Europe in the 1860s. There, Austrian and German researchers managed to extract a white psychoactive alkaloid originally recommended as a surgical anesthesia. Subsequent research uncovered its wildly addictive properties, leading to its outlaw in most countries by 1920. Over the past few decades, Bolivia, Peru and Columbia have variously been recognized as the world's top coca producers. While much of that product has infamously gone toward cocaine production, some finds its way into the hands of consumers through mass-produced beverages. The Illinois-based Stepan Company reportedly imports dozens of tons of dried coca leaf per year, much of which is used in "decocainized" form by Coca-Cola for flavoring. Apart from the Stepan Company — which has a special agreement with the DEA — the possession and importation of coca leaves remains illegal in the U.S. For the time being, it will likely stay that way. Until the WHO's findings are deliberated over by the UN, beverages like El Viejo Roble beer will remain within the confines of Bolivia, destined to find their way abroad only through headlines. [botmc-promo]