Genetically modified tobacco plant produces cocaine in its leaves
www.newscientist.com
Researchers have reproduced the entire biochemical pathway for how coca plants make cocaine in another plant, which could help people manufacture the drug for scientific study
      • AgreeableLandscape
        3·
        2 years ago

        That’s… Not even a good cover story lol. Research really doesn’t need that much of a target material, and the costs of actually doing said research far outweighs the cost of reagents or supplies in all but the most exotic, bleeding edge materials known to man.

      • pingveno
        2·
        2 years ago

        You know, like with MKULTRA. For science. Best combined with sitting “in an adjoining apartment sitting on a portable toilet, drinking pitchers of martinis while watching people having sex under the influence of LSD cocaine”.

      • hfkldjbuq@beehaw.org
        2·
        2 years ago

        For the science of profit while fucking up people yes. Thought the oppium wars would have teached something to the communists, instead they like showing off how big a cigar they can suck.

  • d-RLY?
    3·
    2 years ago

    Always interesting to see random stuff like this. Though I am gonna ask the obvious question. Why not just find a way to increase the amount of coca in a coca plaint? Obviously the companies are allowed to have the drug. So unless this method means that fully created cocaine is going to just be on the leafs (like how THC builds up and can be sifted off). I currently don’t see why this would be better. And I didn’t see anything in the article explaining the “why”.

    Does anyone have any ideas or outright knowledge as to why not just create super high yield coca plaints instead? Shit is very impressive and takes a lot of work to do what they did. So I hope it works out for them with regards to their end-goal.