Drugs and Medicinal Plants, 



110 



[February, 1910. 



MEMORANDUM ON THE PRODUC- 

 TION, DISTRIBUTION, SALE AND 

 PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS 

 OF COCAINE. 



By Wyndham R. Dunstan. 



(Enclosure to Despatch No. 602 of 26th 

 November.) 



Imperial Institute, 

 South Kensington, London, S.W. 



The Commercial supply of coca leaves, 

 the drug from which the alkaloid cocaine 

 is obtained, is almost entirely derived 

 from Peru and Java. The leaves are also 

 cultivated in Bolivia, Brazil and other 

 parts of South America, but only very 

 small quantities are exported from these 

 countries. 



There is also a small amount of coca 

 cultivation in Ceylon, but no statistics of 

 export are available. It is estimated, 

 however,that the total export of the 

 leaves from Ceylon in 1909 will be from 

 15,000 to 20.000 lb., so that the total is 

 small in comparison with the exports 

 from Peru and Java. 



Experimental cultivation of coca leaves 

 has also been undertaken in India, the 

 United States, the Federated Malay 

 States and elsewhere, but at present 

 there appears to be no production on a 

 commercial scale in these countries. 



From Peru both coca leaves and 

 cocaiue are exported. The cocaine pro- 

 duced is crude and impure, and is mostly 

 exported to Germany, where it is refined. 

 The Peruvian coca leaves are said to be 

 sent mostly to Germany and the United 

 States. From Java, coca leaves only are 

 exported at present, though it has been 

 proposed to open a factory there for 

 the manufacture of cocaine. The coca 

 leaves exported from Java contain little 

 or no cocaine, but they are rich in other 

 alkaloids from which cocaine can be 

 made by a comparatively simple process. 

 All the Java coca leaves are at present 

 said to be worked up in Holland for the 

 manufacture of cocaine. 



The statistics of export of coca leaves 

 and cocaine from Peru and Java, so far 

 as they are obtainable, are given in the 

 following table :— 



Java. 

 Coca leaves, 

 lbs. 



1904 ... 57,032 



1905 ... 151,057 



1906 



1907 

 1908 



274,259 



533,765 

 1,026,022 



Peru. 

 Coca leaves, 



About 1000 metric 

 tons of coca leaves 

 are stated to be 

 exported annually 

 from Peru at the 

 present time. 



Cocaine kilos. 

 *904 .. 7,527 (5,156 kilos. ,to (iermauy) 



1905 ... 6,778 (6,413 „ ., ) 



1906 .... 5,914 (5,184 „ ,, ) 



1907 ... 6,057 



The imports of coca leaves from Peru 

 to the United States and to Hamburg in 

 recent years are given in the following 

 tables :— 



Imports of Coca Leaves to United States. 



Quantity. Value. 



1904- 5 



1905- 6 



1906- 7 



1907- 8 



lb. 



2,650,141 

 1,515,616 

 633,121 



Dollars. 

 342.518 

 488,545 

 212,424 

 76,109 



Imports of Medicated Leaves to Hamburg 

 from Peru* 



1905 618,600 kilos. 



1906 587,400 ,, 



1907 ... ... 354,800 „ 



Imports of coca leaves and cocaine are 

 not shown separately in the Trade 

 Returns for most countries, including 

 the United Kingdom, so that it is impos- 

 sible to arrrive in this way at an approxi- 

 mate figure for the producing of 

 cocaine. If the exports of coca leaves 

 from Peru may be taken as about 1,000 

 metric tons per annum, and the exports 

 of cocaine from the same country as 

 about 6,000 kilos, then taking the Java 

 output of coca leaves at the figure for 

 1908, viz., about 1,000,000 lb., the maxi- 

 mum possible production of cocaine per 

 annum would be from 18,000 to 20,000 

 kilograms (39,000 to 44,000 lb.) but this is 

 little more than a guess at the actual 

 production, since a large proportion of 

 the coca leaves which appear in com- 

 merce is no doubt used in the prepar- 

 ation of such products as " coca wino," 

 " liquid extract of coca leaves," etc., and 

 is not employed for the production of 

 cocaine. 



16th November, 1909. 



COCA CULTIVATION IN PERU. 



(From the Chemist and Druggist, Vol. 

 LXXV., No. 1, November 27, 1909.) 



In a recent number of " Der Tropenp- 

 flanzer" (1909, No. 8, p. 386) Herr 

 Sperber states that, owing to the in- 

 creasing use of cocaine, there has been 

 in recent years a very large demand 

 for Peruvian coca-leaves, so much so, 

 that the natural forests of coca-bushes 



* Probably maidy coca leaves : the figure 

 given for 1906 is quoted in the Hamburg Trade 

 Returns aa for coca leavos. 



