Reply #9: Pakistan doesn't have coca, it has opium poppies. [View All]

Coca won't grow in dry, semi-desert regions - it's a semi-tropical plant and prefers hot, damp conditions and does not grow outside of South America at all well. Opium poppies, which will grow in Pakistan, prefer a dry, warm climate and will grow almost anywhere.

And yes, the US does spend more on wiping out crops than it does on just buying and destroying the things... because we can't encourage people to grow plants, now, can we? :sarcasm:

As far as the two plants mentioned, both coca and opium poppies have solid medicinal uses. Unprocessed coca is not nearly the nasty thing that cocaine is, and raw opium is less addictive than the more processed forms. They aren't safer, necessarily - one can still die of a heart attack after consuming too much coca, for example - but they're harder to become addicted to, and in the case of coca, it's actually a rather healthful plant (it is high in vitamins, minerals and protein, and the stimulant effect of the 0.2% of cocaine available in unprocessed leaves would minimize the effects of hypoxia that comes with living at high altitude).

So, which did you mean?