So…ever fancy yourself as a budding Pablo Escobar (incidentally, you can visit his grave in Medallin in Colombia)? Think that there’s loads of cash to be made in heading up a local “microfactoryâ€, if you will, to manufacture and distribute your own cocaine? It’s true - if you’re prepared to take on the risk of getting caught, there’s a lot of money to be made in the stuff. And if you can get hold of the really tricky ingredient, coca leaves, then you’ll be interested to know that cocaine is not the most difficult substance in the world to cook up.
Before you make any decisions regarding a career change - or indeed before you decide to stick any (more) marching powder up your schnozz - consider the following recipe (for 100g of cocaine paste), as shown to us by a bona fide Colombian cocaine farmer:
* Harvest 100kg of coca leaves and stomp into mush with feet (wearing wellies) on the dirty floor of the forest.
* Mix mush with 20kg of salt and 10kg of whitewash powder (the stuff for, well, whitewashing houses).
* Add leaves, salt and powder to 120 litres of petrol and leave to soak.
* Drain liquid, leaving pulp behind.
* Add 10 litres of water to liquid.
* Add 50cm³ sulphuric acid.
* Mix in potassium permanganate until liquid takes on pasty consistency.
* Drain liquid again through permeable membrane.
* Mix in caustic soda until remaining sulphuric acid is neutralised.
* Drain liquid again through permeable membrane.
* Scrape paste from membrane and dry - the resultant product is pure cocaine paste.
The cocaine paste (which cannot be injected or inhaled, only smoked) is then sold by the farmers to the real “bad guysâ€, who add acetone (hydrochloric acid can also be used) to the powder such that 900g of pure cocaine is produced from every 1kg of paste. This is then mixed with 400g of flour to pad the cocaine out to 1.3kg. It is then ready for distribution.
Read through the ingredient list again. Consider that cocaine is not produced in laboratories by men in white coats wearing latex gloves, but by dirty farmers in stinking conditions using toxic substances. Think about all the other rubbish that the coke you buy abroad is then cut with. Imagine sticking all that up your nose (in voice of boy from old TV Bar advert). If ever there was an effective anti-cocaine campaign, it’s a “factory†tour. Quite, quite disgusting. But very interesting.
After the visit, we spent a considerable amount of time analysing the farmer’s business model and probable finances. We quickly worked out that he was either (a) a liar or (b) an idiot when it comes to the dollars and cents of his business, seeing as he barely seems to turn a profit (from our estimations, based on assumed prices and the titbits of info he passed over to us) from each modest harvest (which brings in roughly 3 tonnes of coca leaves per quarter). Of course, if he is an idiot, that would explain why he’s still trapsing around the forest in wellies and torn overalls instead of cruising around in a 4X4 with bitches hanging off his arms. He could do with a team of consultants. And an audit. A good audit would set him right. We could probably pull in the dregs of Arthur Andersen to help him and his mates out a bit.
It’s all quite interesting. Naughty, but interesting.
PS. The production of coca leaves is internationally regulated by treaty (and, of course, by the strong arm of the US) and despite it being a major resource of countries like Bolivia, Peru and Colombia, where it is consumed predominantly in its natural form, production levels are required to be kept ridiculously low. Many countries, however, are permitted to produce certain prescribed quantities of coca leaves, most noticeably the US, which has the highest production quota of any country. Typical. The reason? Coca leaves are still used as a flavourant in the manufacture of Coca-Cola. And Americans are huge cockpumps. So now you know.
58 responses so far ↓
1 Spook // Oct 26, 2007 at 10:05 am
Yeah well brits have short dicks and bad teeth.
2 Bugsy // Oct 26, 2007 at 10:32 am
Cocaine is a hell of a lot better for you than Crank, or for that matter about 85 % of the OTC drugs that have to have warnings for kidney failure, blindness (as in Viagra) etc.
Besides, it’s a hell of a lot more fun (if you don’t have an addictive personality, in which case, your screwed all around anyway,)
3 Jade // Oct 26, 2007 at 10:34 am
Ah I know that the processing of cocaine is full of bad stuff. But i highly doubt you add potassium permanganate to the mixture. Pot. permanganate is a purple crystal which when mixed with water realises a huge amount of purple dye, which evetually turns brown. For instance as a kid, about a shot glass, say 30 - 50mls of pot. permanganate would die an entire swimming pool bright purple, turn brown and stain the walls of the pool
4 george // Oct 26, 2007 at 10:45 am
yeah, i don’t think the guy producing that knew what he was talking about, or he was lying to protect himself. this is much different than i was lead to believe by a columbian guy i met who used to work on a coca farm
5 the salami from killarney // Oct 26, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Ok. The mixture did go a dark, blackish-brown when the “permanganate” was added (see second pic in sequence). The dude only spoke Spanish, so the substance might have been confused in translation. Meum erratum. In all other respects, the process was genuine. Promise.
6 sarah // Oct 26, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Well I wont be marching anywhere in the near future! Who cares about the pot. stuff. The petrol put me off. I always said coke had a petrol type smell. bleugh by poor body!
7 Sniffles // Oct 26, 2007 at 2:06 pm
I always wondered why that shit smelled like gasoline!
8 TonyMontana // Oct 26, 2007 at 2:43 pm
You are all full of shit.
Fuckin cockroaches
9 Jace // Oct 26, 2007 at 2:53 pm
one day when I had abit of coke layin about in me flat on the window cill it exploded.. The sun had been on it for a number of hours which caused it!
Now I know the ingredients I understand why. I still say i shoulda got a refund.. f’ckin dealers!!
10 Kiash // Oct 26, 2007 at 3:29 pm
No need to insult Americans at the end of this, although 90% of our country IS a big load of cock.
11 Dazed // Oct 26, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Coke exploding? such bullshit. i’ve snorted many 8balls and no it doesn’t smell like gasoline. people cook down coke with baking soda to make crack also they can smoke it or cook it down in a spoon to shoot it up. research your ‘facts’ before posting
12 HOOVER // Oct 26, 2007 at 5:55 pm
Dazed, buddy, bro! You is wrong, “coke” smells like gas, yes gas not petrol, I are dumb Amerikan. It’s all about acids and bases and separating the good stuff from the bad stuff or vice versa. I’ve had my share of “good coke”, and it’s always had a slight nose of some sort of petroleum product, sometimes more like kerosene, but I guess that’s part of the manufacturing process so you tend to look the other way because of the effects. It just doesn’t do it for me anymore,I’ll stick to me ganja!
13 Phil E. Drifter // Oct 26, 2007 at 5:57 pm
I love coke, on occasion, and this looks like a bunch of malarkey. Coke producers know full well what they’re doing, and, yes, they have laboratory-type facilities where they can mass produce tons of cocaine, that sweet, sweet white powder. Just thinking about it almost makes my nasal passages drip.
And it’s much safer than alcohol.
14 K9srCool // Oct 26, 2007 at 6:09 pm
For Coke to be grown, manufactured, smuggled and sold you forgot one major ingredient - blood.
15 Jace // Oct 26, 2007 at 8:28 pm
haha Dazed.. u fool, u fell for it. Bet ur an American aint ya?!? loooool
16 scuba dooba doo // Oct 26, 2007 at 10:56 pm
Kerosene/diesel IS the solvent of choice for rendering coca paste from raw material down there and, no, contrary to what Phil E. Drifter (jokingly, I hope) says, it is NOT made in a sterile or anywhere near professional lab. The people who make/market this or any other drug cares as much abt quality/purity as they care abt the people who ultimately end up using it which I can say w/ all certainty isn’t very much.
17 LoM23 // Oct 26, 2007 at 11:29 pm
dont anyone here remember when coke was processed w/ ether and “real” chemicals?
There was a time when doing coke was euphoric - it was cooked in small batches by folks that cared using good proper chemicals.
now they use the cheapest, most readily available solvents around…
God I feel so old.
18 asdf // Oct 27, 2007 at 2:27 am
The farmer above is lucky. He’s processing coke above ground.
In Colombia, it’s common for drug lords to keep slaves and their crops underground, out of sight. They operate in tunnels, about waist-high, so there’s no way to stand up. The workers are usually kidnapped from the streets of Bogota and they aren’t allowed to leave. Ever.
The caustic substances eat away the skin on their hands, their feet, their faces. They get open sores and work until they are too sick to carry on, and then they are shot and buried.
It’s surreal. In the middle of the rainforest, there is a hidden trap door in the ground. The entire facility is invisible unless you know exactly where to look, and they use generators for electricity. The inhumane conditions are really quite tragic.
19 Zeeek // Oct 27, 2007 at 2:36 am
wow… that’s pretty gnarly… but it seems legit. coke is bad. nuff sed.
p.s hey “Jade” it’s “releases”, not “realises”. that’s not even a real word…
20 asdf // Oct 27, 2007 at 2:41 am
Oh, and I saw this on a Pablo Escobar special…
There is a 14,000% difference between the cost of production and the street value in NYC. $1.00 worth of pure coke to a manufacturer in Colombia is worth $14,000.00 street value in NYC.
That’s why drug smuggling will never go away. Much too profitable.
21 the salami from killarney // Oct 27, 2007 at 5:58 am
Wow. You’re a dodgy lot, aren’t you? WAY too well informed!
22 Spanner // Oct 27, 2007 at 8:27 am
“Zeeek reckons:
wow… that’s pretty gnarly… but it seems legit. coke is bad. nuff sed.
p.s hey “Jade†it’s “releasesâ€, not “realisesâ€. that’s not even a real word…
2:36 am | October 27th,”
Erm… yes it is.
23 Hey // Oct 27, 2007 at 11:04 am
“Coca leaves are still used as a flavourant in the manufacture of Coca-Cola.” where did you get this from.
24 Hey // Oct 27, 2007 at 11:04 am
“Coca leaves are still used as a flavourant in the manufacture of Coca-Cola.” where did you get this from.
25 anon // Oct 30, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Easy enough to find a source… fairly common knowledge i thought.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola_formula
26 moony // Oct 31, 2007 at 7:51 am
it’s amazing the number of people responding to this like world-wise cokeheads. to those of you who have done it: congratulations, you’ve finally crossed the fine line between experimenting and putting your life into your own hands. to those of you who haven’t: i go to a liberal arts college, and getting cocaine is as easy as buying weed around here. if your hookup sells weed, he probably has connections to fifty other types of drugs, all of them a hundred times worse than pot (which i really don’t consider a big deal). at the end of september, a 22-year-old living in a single dorm in what we call “the village” died while doing a speedball. he was found two days later by his father, who got worried because he wasn’t answering his phone or returning his calls.
put THAT in your crackpipe and smoke it, assholes.
27 bob smith // Oct 31, 2007 at 8:16 am
Whatever…. i love the stuff…. LOVE IT. LOVE IT. LOVE IT.
28 Therealjoe // Oct 31, 2007 at 9:28 pm
The petrol is required to extract the cocaine.
And the whitewash is to dye it white.
Id just stick to weed because plants are natural.
29 cokaineinmybrain // Nov 1, 2007 at 1:17 pm
hehe we’ll have to wait till it’s legalized… like it was back in the old days
here in argentina we call it “merca”, because back in circa 1900, it was produced by Merck labs.
and btw, the first reason to legalize cocaine, is all the people being killed, not the consumers. you can die by sticking a fork in the toaster, you don’t need to drag others with you.
30 Christopher Cotner // Nov 1, 2007 at 3:27 pm
I love the way cocaine smells.
31 nature223 // Nov 2, 2007 at 11:39 am
well 100% of brits can SUCK my cock….asshole
32 me // Nov 2, 2007 at 12:22 pm
even weed these days, unless your growing it yourself has usually been given some chemical to make it more addictive during the growing process. but everything that grows is given something to make it better so what can you do I enjoy some good weed here and there but will never go near anything like Coke. lived with a dealer once and when he opened that bag all I could smell was diesel. fucking sick dude
33 Noel Brager // Nov 2, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Probably the thing that needs to come out here is that what the processor is after, the cocaine alkaloid content, may only be reduced from the cocoa leaves using a solvent.
Peruvian jungles rarely have chemical supply houses to purchase alcohol, so they use the next best thing, petrol (gas), diesel, kerosene or a combination of the above.
The reduction process can take as little as 1-2 or as many as 4-5 steps, depending on how well refined you want the extract. Properly reduced, you will detect no significant odor…if you do, it’s probably from the dilutants added to cut it down well after the processing. (unless you’re getting the cheapshit extractions)
Check this for a very accurate, laymans description of the process. http://www.druglibrary.org/Schaffer/GovPubs/cocccp.htm
Coke that smells like gas is the least of your worries. I’d be far more concerned about snorting crystalline sulphiric acid up my nose and waiting form my brain to rot out from the inside.
34 Telecide // Nov 2, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Hehe, I love reading these posts. Some of you really don’t like your Uncle Charles whereas others can’t wait for him to come visit one more time. Me? I’ve tried most things but after a long and fun relationship decided to close that chapter in my life and move on. Nowadays a gin & tonic does me nicely!
35 the salami from killarney // Nov 2, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Gosh. You’re all way more educated than I expected! Personally, I don’t like the image of my brain rotting from the inside out. Not cool at all.
36 Uncle Sam // Nov 2, 2007 at 11:34 pm
Oh like you guys weren’t dicks when you Ruled the World . . .
At least we won’t be relegated to being a mere Airstrip when our Chinese Overlords take over . . . like we did to you!
37 whatever // Nov 3, 2007 at 12:52 am
You coke users a losers. Period. Hopefully you’ll either get a bad batch or overdose and do the world a favor. Less demand = less need for supply.
Please, coke up dipshits.
38 warlord // Nov 3, 2007 at 10:37 am
wow some of the people posting here are fucking retarded. the rest of you seem well informed and i salute you for trying to educate ignorant bastards. i agree that cocaine is a horrible drug. but i also believe that its something everyone should try once. not because of the high or anything like that, but because its a test of strength. if you can snort an 8ball and walk away and never go back to it, then your a stronger person for it. a person never knows what they are capable of untill they are tested to the extreme. and i know most of you will read this and disagree, thats ur decision. but my personal belief is that a person should go through extreme trials in all aspects of life (not just drugs or cocaine) to make them stronger. look at the spoiled rich people most (not all) of em cant do shit for themselves cause they have never had to. that makes them week and unable to cope with certain situations around them.
39 Coolio // Nov 3, 2007 at 11:08 am
Hi, I’m here to brag about that fact that I’ve done coke.
I’m so cool. Thanks.
40 SuthernPhryd // Nov 3, 2007 at 11:37 am
@ warloard: I couldn’t have said it better myself.
41 Troy Mclure // Nov 3, 2007 at 9:18 pm
Wow.
Neither Cocaine, nor it’s derivative Coca leaves are used as a “Flavourant” in Coca Cola anymore. And the English have tiny penises, bad teeth, ugly women, horibble food, and gay accents.
42 PeruvianFlake // Nov 4, 2007 at 7:23 pm
I don’t like coke. I prefer Pepsi!
43 Poke a Koala // Nov 5, 2007 at 11:43 pm
An informative piece. Several opinions spanning both sides of the argument spilled the beans about the average intelligence of the common coke user however. If we spent half og the money that we spent producing, buying and fighting this plant (petrol aside) we would have no need to fight over oil because we could power the planet off of solar energy and still have money left to spare. Unfortunately, we’d probably just spend the extra money on coke anyway…
44 James // Nov 6, 2007 at 6:10 pm
Each time I did coke I regretted doing it. Call me lame, but I enjoy sleep more than grinding my teeth and blabbering on like an idiot for hours. I guess that’s what cool people do though.
45 extraordinary 1 // Nov 7, 2007 at 12:56 am
Well, I feel that many people are living life in excess and though I know the topic here is strictly about cocaine, many people cannot use self- control when it comes to drugs, food, sex, etc….but hey, that’s the joy of having free will…I personally have tried almost every drug under the sun (some in excess, some not), and even if I could go back and change my experiences of experimentation, I wouldn’t change a damn thing…It’s made me who I am today, and that’s an open-minded, intelligent, and non-judgemental person. What I can’t stand is for people to pass judgement, such as the previous reply from “whatever” above saying that he hopes users get a bad dose and die to do the world a favor…You are the true loser here, my friend, not the users. Do yourself a favor an get some life experience before you judge! And by the way, Poke A Koala, my IQ is 132, what is yours? I think if you’ll do some research you will find that in history many very intelligent people such as Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud were promoters and users of cocaine…The fact is anything, drug or not, can be abused if in the wrong hands, but that’s not for me or you to decide.
46 Mitch // Nov 7, 2007 at 2:23 am
Cocaine is a lame drug in my opinion. It doesn’t make people dumb though and I know a lot of smart dudes at my college use coke regularly and don’t seem to have a dependence. I just smoke weed though.
47 andy // Nov 7, 2007 at 2:39 am
I doubt very much (though not being heavily informed, I will admit) that cocaine is produced in sterile, high tech factories. The places that have laws that allow the production en masse of coca plants are not the same places which have such advanced technology. Cocaine is simply white because of the additives, the most recognizable being whitewash, among flour, salt, talc, and other additives.
Just because you haven’t died from a bad batch of cocaine doesn’t mean they exist. I have had friends who have died doing a drug for the very first time, usually from a fuck-up on the drug manufacturer’s part.
Admittedly, this has piqued my curiousity enough to see if the limit on coca leaves in Canada is enough for me to try to manufacture a little of my own cocaine.
And yes, both ‘realises’ and ‘releases’ are both words. Dictionaries are good tools, especially when they’re so easily accessible on the internet.
48 charlie // Nov 7, 2007 at 10:35 am
america is just a word
49 warlord // Nov 7, 2007 at 5:13 pm
@charlie: technically ur right. but then again GOD is just a word too. its all about association.
but back on topic. now matter how clean the manufacturing process is your shit is still gonna be dirty. you have to think about the fact that (for people in the united states anyway) by the time the stuff gets to you its been stepped on several times. so really you will never get clean coke unless u make it urself or know someone who does. though if u snort a line of pure coke u will probably come very close to killing urself.
50 Erowid // Nov 7, 2007 at 7:35 pm
Okay, if I show you how you produce hamburgers, are you going to stop eating them?
Just because the production seems nasty doesn’t mean the product is nasty. Coke isn’t so bad for your health.
51 pothead // Nov 14, 2007 at 1:03 am
u know what?
meth is so much easier to make, more addictive and will fuck up ur teeth
so meth is what i would sell. but i would just do weed if it came to doing any type of drugs
52 richamerican // Nov 14, 2007 at 1:18 am
I agree with Erowid, even though I’m not the coke type. Warlord is an idiot. I agree with trying new things, but not proven-addictive nose-snorted chemicals. To say that everyone should try coke is assanine. I know plenty of people who have ruined their lives with the help of cocaine. And not all rich people are helpless idiots.
53 extraordinary 1 // Nov 14, 2007 at 8:56 am
The reason why Meth fucks up people’s teeth is not actually from the drug it’s self….When people do meth it does considerably deplete the vitamins and minerals from you body, but this can all be avoided with a vitamin supplement…Furthermore, it takes away a person’s appetite and makes them not want to really ingest food or liquids, which from lack of nutrition, tooth decay can result, etc. just as it can with cocaine use.
54 jesika840 // Nov 20, 2007 at 8:06 pm
I don’t understand why anyone likes coke anyways. The high is way to short, and basically just not worth it. I’m done with those days, I’ll just stick with my love of all times, my maryjane.
55 fat dick big sack // Dec 21, 2007 at 12:02 pm
where did you yanks come from, you thick, fake load of cunts and what is that you speak, yes thats correct its english.
56 Mee // Dec 26, 2007 at 3:27 pm
read this:
Okay, please note that I’ll be using 3 grams of adulterated cocaine as my example for this procedure, so keep that in mind. You should use 15 ml.s of acetone per every 1 gram of cocaine.
Crush up your 3 grams of adulterated cocaine as fine as possible. I have personally found that using a fine screened juice strainer best for getting finely ground powder.
Pour your crushed up cocaine into 45-50 ml.s of acetone. Put the cap back onto your acetone bottle immediately to avoid any moisture from the air getting in. Stir the cocaine in the acetone for approx. 3-5 minutes making sure to get around the bottom edges etc. Cover with a small piece of paper or something to keep any moisture out and let settle until the cleaned cocaine crystals are on the bottom and your acetone at the top has become completely clear or dirty looking, but free of any crystals floating in it. This should take anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes.
Now, carefully pour your dirty acetone into a filter placed inside of your plastic funnel and resting atop your drinking glass. It is important on this first run to stop as short of any cocaine falling out into the filter as possible (it’s okay if some crystals fall into the filter paper, leave them there). This will provide us with the opportunity to perform a second wash on the crystals in the beaker. Now, with some crystals stuck to the side of the beaker from pouring and most at the bottom, pour 30 more ml.s of fresh acetone into the beaker trying to collect those crystals stuck on the side while pouring in. Stir again and cover. This time, pour your entire contents into the filter paper. If some crystals are left clinging to the beaker, pour a lil’ fresh acetone in, swirl and pour them in as well. With your clean crystals inside the filter paper, cover. Once all, or most of the acetone has drained thru into the drinking glass, pour 20 more ml.s of fresh acetone into the filter paper. This will provide us with the third and last cleansing. Cover and let drain completely. This could take 5-10 minutes at the most.
Once all of the acetone has drained thru, carefully remove the filter paper containing the newly cleaned and now beautiful crystals and place it between three or four paper towels. Fold the towels over the filter paper and press firmly on the cocaine to absorb any additional acetone. Discard paper towels and place the somewhat dried filter paper still containing the crystyals under a heat lamp for approx. 20 minutes. Remove from under heat lamp.
Now, this last step is very important. For your own health and for the true taste, feel and aesthetics of the newly cleaned cocaine, you must let it evaporate on it’s own, still inside of the filter paper for at least 24 hours in a non-humid environment. At the 24+ mark, gently heat the crystals, while still inside of the filter paper, for approx. 10 minutes or so. Remove from heat.
Carefully open the filter paper and let the clump of beautiful cocaine fall out onto an awaiting ceramic plate. Rub the filter paper together over the plate if any is stuck to it. Carefully open up the clump to examine your newly formed, clean and pure crystals. This will resemble nothing of which you started with, no matter how good or bad it looked.
Crush up finely into a couple of lines and snort away. “HOLY SHIT, there’s no burn, no smell, but wait a minute, I’m starting to feel a warm rush throughout my entire body!” “I’m feeling an extreme euphoria coming over me”. “The back of my throat is numb as hell”. “I feel fucking great”! “No edgyness, ampyness or uncomfortableness. I’ve never felt this good before”. Or any other quotes something of the like all thru the night anyway…………….
Welcome to “real” cocaine……….finally! Enjoy.
57 Christina // Mar 25, 2008 at 3:59 pm
People make wine or used to by stomp on grapes with feet. The farmer if he was making any money he wouldn’t be stomping on leaves to begin with, he’d be paying someone else to stomp. That’s what the higher ups do, force some lower-class people to do the dirty work, pay them hardly anything and then they take the product. The farmers don’t want to, thats cool, they’ll just shoot you, take your farm and put some other guy there to do the stomping.
And yeah coke is a crappy drug because by the time us “common folk” get it, it’s been cut so many times, you could sweeten your coffee with it.
58 liverpoollife // Apr 20, 2008 at 12:36 am
hav to say that has really opened my eyes i am struggling with addiction and seeing this and the poor people invovled is tragic.and i am only fueling the fire thanks.please god can turn my noise away [no pun intented]
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