Coca leaves availability

[D.B. Cooper]

You can buy them in Constitucion at the La Vicuñita store on Brasil 1217 next to the Medicinal Herbs place. It's one block from the RR station.
Reasonably safe area. If you ever come to BA now you know where to go. I like to keep a small amount on hand in case I want to stay awake for something. So I sometimes buy the small bags. I tried making tea from them but for fast / best result you just have to chew them.

 

[RichardAlem]

I'm trying to follow up a post from last March about the availability of coca leaves. According to Argentine federal law it is legal to chew coca leaves everywhere in the country but they seem to be easily available only in the northern provinces. In Salta, Jujuy and Tucuman most kioscos sell plastic bags full of the raw leaves. I would like to try them for weight loss and hopefully depression but I'm in Bariloche and no one here knows of a local source. It seems like this would be a business opportunity for someone but nobody is meeting the need. Any suggestions?

Bear in mind that the active alkoloid in coca leaves is (unprocessed) cocaine which is an anesthetic, as is another of the component alkoloids, cinnamoylcocaine.

Dried coca leaves are brittle with mildly sharp edges and sharp stems. If you don't grind the leaves and remove the stems and twigs, they will likely cut and scratch your soft inner cheeks and gums. And because of the anesthetic effect, you won't know it until you start spitting blood.

If I were you, I would boil the leaves to make tea and not chew them. My Bolivian friends who chew daily have teeth like llamas. Not a good look.