Illegal

The Coca plant is plagued by legal woes per its ties to Cocaine and these ties make the plant mostly illegal across the planet, except for in some South American countries.

"Outside of South America, most countries' laws make no distinction between the coca leaf and any other substance containing cocaine, so the possession of coca leaf (except for de-cocainized leaf) is prohibited.

In the Netherlands, coca leaf is legally in the same category as cocaine, both are List I drugs of the Opium Law. The Opium Law specifically mentions the leafs of the plants of the species Erythroxylon. However, the possession of living plants of the species Erythroxylon are not actively prosecuted, even though they are legally forbidden.

In the United States, the Stepan Company of Maywood, New Jersey has the only license to legally import coca leaf. The company manufactures pure cocaine for medical use and also produces a cocaine-free extract of the coca leaf, which is used as a flavoring ingredient in Coca-Cola. According to the Bolivian press, Coca-Cola legally imported 20400 tons of coca leaf in 1996.

Since the 1980s, the countries in which coca is grown have come under political and economic pressure from the United States to restrict the cultivation of the crop, in order to reduce the supply of cocaine on the international market.

Article 26 of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs requires nations that allow the cultivation of coca to designate an agency to regulate said cultivation and take physical possession of the crops as soon as possible after harvest, and to destroy all coca which grows wild or is illegally cultivated. The effort to enforce these provisions, referred to as coca eradication, has involved many strategies, ranging from aerial spraying of herbicides on coca crops to assistance and incentives to encourage farmers to grow alternate crops.

This effort has been politically controversial, with proponents claiming that the production of cocaine is several times the amount needed to satisfy legal demand, and inferring that the vast majority of the coca crop is destined for the illegal market, which not only contributes to the major social problem of drug abuse, but also financially supports insurgent groups that collaborate with drug traffickers in some cocaine-producing territories. Critics of the effort claim that it creates hardship primarily for the coca growers, many of whom are poor and have no viable alternative way to make a living, causes environmental problems, that it is not effective in reducing the supply of cocaine, in part because cultivation can move to other areas, and that any social harm created by drug abuse is only made worse by the war on drugs."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca#Legal_status - (edit / improve)