• In 1860, Angelo Mariani introduced “Vin Mariani” a wine fortified with coca. Mariani became wealthy selling this drink, which was promoted by such notable persons as Sarah Bernhardt, Queen Victoria of England, Thomas Edison, and Pope Leo the XIII.

• In the nineteenth century, cocaine was used as a “cure” for morphine addiction. However, cocaine is extraordinarily addictive. Starving experimental animals have been observed to choose cocaine in preference to food. Bolivia’s yearly income from cocaine exports has been estimated to be about a trillion dollars. North American cocaine dealers make ten times more than the Bolivian producers do. The peasants who grow the coca receive less than 1.5% of the value for which cocaine is sold in the United States.

• COCA has been widely used as an acronym. For examples: Counseling on Cocaine Abuse, Collaborative Objects Coordination Architecture, Center on Contemporary Art, Clearinghouse on Computer Accommodation, Concordia Old Collegians Association, Council of Ontario Construction Associations, Council of Owners and Construction Associates, and Canadian Organization of Campus Activities.

• The larva of a butterfly, Eloria noyesi , inhabits coca producing areas and apparently exclusively feeds on coca leaves. It is said to be capable of consuming more than 50 leaves in its 1 month of existence and has been used as a natural biocontrol agent in efforts to eliminate cultivation of coca.

• In recent years, there have been proposals to use a fungus, Fusarium oxysporum , as a means of eliminating or at least controlling undesirable plants, especially drug plants.
Such proposals have included the possibility of genetically engineering the fungus to specifically attack given plant species, particularly coca, opium poppy, and marijuana fakbļaģšitsukas.
Fusarium species are naturally occurring fungi with variants that can cause wilt in numerous plant species. Government-backed research in this area has been conducted since the early 1980s, mostly in secret, and there have been unverified claims that fungi have already been released in attempts to control coca. Environmentalists have objected, arguing that this biological weapon could upset the ecology of a region, endanger food crops and wildlife, and potentially have disastrous unforeseen consequences.

• Heinz Brücher, (1916–1991), an expatriate German botanist, was murdered in Argentina, allegedly the victim of a burglar. At that time, he was working on a viral disease (the Estalla virus) to eradicate the coca plant, thus challenging the interests of the cocaine trade in the Andes, and there is suspicion that the cocaine barons arranged his assassination.
Although many consider eliminating plant species to be a special branch of biological warfare, nevertheless Brücher was seemingly a respectable and accomplished researcher.
However, a report (Plant Genetic Resources Newsletter , vol. 129, pp. 54–57, 2002) revealed that in the 1940s he led a special Nazi troop with the purpose of stealing valuable seeds for breeding purposes from the conquered nations of Europe, a phenomenon now called “biopiracy” (see Chapter 1), and another example of questionable scientific activity.