A New Jersey factory is the only one in the United States that has a license to import the coca plant to make cocaine. In addition, said company also processes coca leaves to make Coca-Cola.
The factory, which is run by the Stepan Company, has a DEA license that allows it to import coca leaves.
In the case of the process for Coca-Cola, the company uses them to create an ingredient –which is not cocaine– that is used to make the soft drink. He also uses the coca leaves to make a powder that is sold to the Mallinckrodt company, which makes a numbing agent used by dentists.
It is not known how many coca leaves the Stepan Company imports a year, although it has been revealed in the past that it has imported up to 588 metric tons from Peru and Bolivia, according to information from the New York Post.
A ton of coca leaves from Peru costs $5,500 dollars. This means that Stepan Company would be paying between $308,000 and $3.2 million.
Although the importation of coca leaves was banned in 1921, an exemption was made for the Stepan Company, then called the Maywood Chemical Work.
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