The Nation - News from June 12, 1988

Federal scientists are secretly growing coca as part of an effort to learn how to eradicate the plant from which cocaine is derived, according to a published report. The New York Times said that the project has been kept secret because federal officials fear that drug dealers or others might threaten the research program or its personnel. Researchers are looking for a reliable chemical or biological means to destroy coca in South American fields, the source of most cocaine reaching the United States. The coca-growing project began about two years ago in a greenhouse near Washington and included several hundred coca bushes raised from seeds “flown in from South America in diplomatic pouches,” one researcher said.