TIL Coca-Cola still produces $3 billion worth of pure cocaine per year and sells it to opioid manufacturers
Coca-Cola produces $3 billion worth of pure cocaine per year
cross-posted from: https://lemmit.online/post/5023450
We still have medical cocaine. It makes sense to have a company who has long term experience processing it to still do the same as long as they keep up the proper permits and labs.
Set this aside and I agree with @reddig33@lemmy.world that i have much less worry about this than i do about all the plastic. I truly wish we could and would move back to glass bottles because those can truly be recycled. Plastic CAN be but most places anymore don't actually recycle it.
I read recently that recycled plastics make better railroad ties than wood does. You’d think someone would jump on that.
You have wood railroad ties? You mean the bars under the rails?
Why? Do cars ride on railroad tracks now? (Yes, I am dimly aware there are also places outside the US.)
I'd expect them to stay sane and use prestressed concrete ones like the rest of the industry. Steel might make sense in some situations.
Do you mean the sleepers?
My worry with changing bottles is whether or not anyone has looked into the difference in shipping pollution vs the plastic pollution. It could end up being no better in the long run. I would think glass would be better for sure if the shipping is electric, since the power itself can be regulated more tightly. But with fossil fuels, I have no idea where it would end up.
Once upon a time Coca cola used to sell coke in glass bottles that you would then give back to them, they'd wash them, sanitize them and sell them again. You'd pay a small deposit on the bottle that they'd then give back to you. They had bottling centers all over the place.
They switched to plastic bottles because it was much cheaper to let the government handle the garbage problem
The glass also needs more energy to be shaped.
In EU we optionally have returnable plastic bottles for coca cola, which will be reused until worn down.
I'm not sure how it would even make sense to have globally centralised bottling.
Luckily Wikipedia keeps a page on this, and I see there are almost twenty bottling plants in the US alone. Another industry blogger breathlessly reports that coke has 900+ bottling and syrup plants across the globe.
To your point I'm sure some glass bottles get shipped internationally, but it doesn't appear to be their M.O. They keep a few syrup plants across the globe and many bottling plants and distribution partners who work more locally, so the weight of their shipping media for the beverage is likely to be fairly well optimised.
Switching to glass across the globe would be a task for local bottlers and distributors, and although it might pose some challenges it'd be worth it imo
Glass vs plastic has two issues, glass costs more to ship because it weighs many times what glass does and glass comes with increased rates of injury from broken glass. Cans are the best solution.
I got medical cocaine once. I had a chemical burn on my eyeball from inadvertently spraying shave gel into it, so that it underwent the get to foam reaction under my eyelid (the bottle slipped and I reflexively grabbed it). It was the most painful thing I have ever experienced, by far and I’ve broken bones without realizing it.
I was in the ER, literally writhing in pain, and they were asking me questions I couldn’t really answer at the moment, so the dr got annoyed (?) and gave me some eye drops. The INSTANT they hit my eye, the pain disappeared and I was suddenly able to breathe normally, sit still, and be a person. It only lasted a little bit (maybe 5-15 minutes, but I can’t really remember), so they reapplied them a few times while I was there. I tried to get them to give me some to take home and they were weirdly cagey about it, and then they explained that it was a cocaine solution. I then asked if it was just 10% in saline solution or what and the doctor made me promise that I knew I could not buy pure enough cocaine to put in my injured eye safely.
and I’ve broken bones without realizing it.
Comparing something very painful to something you didn't even notice seems an odd choice
That’s fair, lol. I chose it because I wasn’t in shock and the doctors said I should have been in serious pain, as a metric of my (dangerously) high pain threshold, but then I didn’t give any context.
This reminds me of thos story where our chemistry teacher was talking about some chemical that was dangerous (I genuinely don't remember what) and said X amount could probably blow up the classroom. It was fascinating. One kid was excited (as anyone would be) and was just sort of like "no way! That's cool!" nothing really suspicious, but then she got weird and said she'd probably have to report him. Idk if she actually did or anything. That teacher was sort of an ass and she also had a bone to pick with that kid for some reason.
Put it back in the drink you dipshits
"But officer, I got it from the store, its FDA APPROVED, ITS LEGAL!"
Man, if they had put enough in the drink to have a noticable effect just imagine taking a swig of it and the feeling going from fizzy/sweet/bitter to tingling/numb. A drink that just numbs your mouth.
All drugs should be legal.
I'd say there's a pretty damn good argument for making them illegal for kids...
Edit: I wonder if the downvoters are cool with kids getting access to tobacco. Because this is the result: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-NMQxt0YA4
The cost of drugs in the media and government talk are almost always wrong.
two million grams of cocaine
Where I live a relatively pure gram goes for €60/g. So that's €120 million worth of pure cocaine.
I think the price that they used is the price they dare ask in the medical world. Which I've seen to be up to $500/g in small quantities. (Posted online by a science student who saw it listed on a certified vendor website). So even if that's the amount they put on it that would still only be $1 billion instead of 3, and that's not even wholesale.
two million grams of cocaine
This irks me. Two tons of cocaine but bigger number sounds like more.
I guess they used grams because it's mostly people that enjoy drugs that will read the article.
According to my sources (just a quick ddg search), 2000 kg of cocaine is worth more like $6 million.
Yeah I gave an example of the worst possible prices.
I misread however, it's 2 billion USD or 3 billion NZD. But that still doesn't make sense.
It's coca-cola cocain man.
But they won't put it in their drink. The hypocrisy 😤
If they only (freely) sold cocaine but stopped producing all the plastics I think they would greatly improve their effect on the world.
A controlled substance is just that - you have to have the appropriate permits and approvals to be able to manufacturer and supply it.
Why would opioid manufacturers need cocaine? I thought cocaine wasn't an opiate, so wouldn't they just be drug manufacturers?
Pharmaceutical companies make drugs and only one company in the USA can refine cocaine. They buy the cocaine from Stepan and then make other drugs from it or just dilute it for medical use.
Opioid manufactures also manufacture other drugs, like pharmaceutical grade cocaine. That's the only connection I can see - I don't think the cocaine molecule is similar enough to opioids for it so be a useful precursor.
From this thread: https://lemmy.world/comment/14737915
Stepan makes it not Coca Cola. I thought International Flavors and Fragrances made it but I guess it's a different factory with no windows a ton of chimneys and barbed wire gates.
I’m actually more concerned about all the plastic they manufacture per year.
But the micro plastics can be the fossil fuels for future civilizations!
That doesn't sound right, but I don't know enough about micro plastics to dispute it
Yeah, who wants micro plastics in their dental cocaine
It's also used in ophthalmology.
And people shit themselves over Keurig cups. Fuck me. A single coke bottle or fast-food drink contains far more plastic.
"bUt SinGlE uSe covfefe!"
Yeah, so are pop bottles and I pack them out of the woods and waterways almost everyday. Never found a Keurig cup. No other environmental concern goes to show how fucking stupid people are.
BTW: Plastic straws? Gather one or several on every trip, woods or water. "But those are a fake problem meant to put pollution onus on the user!" Well, users chunk 'em everywhere; bottle caps as well.
Pro tip: Keurig cups are ideal for seedlings. Perfect size, already have holes in the bottom. Gather and dry some moss, boom, seedlings. When they grow out a bit, use the plastic McDonald's cups. I cannot imagine why people buy plastic pots. Morons.
Pro tip 2: Keep the thick plastic bottles you use or find. Perfect frozen water for a cooler pack or a trip. Old gf used to freeze a milk jug for a 2-3 day kayaking trip.
Why are you singling out K Cups? All those products you mentioned are made of plastic, and while I do find the straw thing is ridiculous compared to the fish nets abandoned in the ocean every day, I still think all single use plastics are kind of bad.
LOL, what a ludicrous argument.
"Nobody's schlepping their electric coffee appliance and a fucking generator with them to use in the middle of the goddamn woods, so the pointless plastic pods the thing uses must be A-OK!"
🙄