Scientific American: ‘Cocaine Will Survive Global Warming’
'The humble coca shrub has survived decades of efforts to eradicate it and global warming will not pose a greater challenge than that'
'The coca bush is a tough plant, one that's likely to adapt to the expected changes, say several scientists who've studied cocaine. "Coca is kind of unique, because it's got a very heavy wax cuticle, a layer on the leaves," said Charles Helling, a former soil chemist at U.S. Department of Agriculture who took part in American anti-drug efforts. "So that tends to protect it from water loss. It's a pretty hardy shrub. It's actually a lot hardier than a typical crop plant."