A Tobacco Plant Has Been Engineered to Produce Cocaine in Its Leaves [View all]

Used by humans as a stimulant and anesthetic for thousands of years, the drug commonly known as cocaine has been carefully shaped by species of the coca plant (Erythroxylum) over tens of millions of years in an arms race against hungry insects.

Knowing just how the plants pull off this feat of chemical engineering would be a big win for the pharmaceutical industry while helping biologists better understand the evolution of similar pesticides across the plant kingdom.

Yet the sheer complexity of the chemical's production has been one of nature's best-kept secrets, one that scientists have spent the better part of a century untangling.

Now, researchers from China's Kunming Institute of Botany have finally uncovered the last major steps of the biosynthetic process.

https://www.sciencealert.com/a-tobacco-plant-has-been-engineered-to-produce-cocaine-in-its-leaves

Jesus, if this one ever gets out of the lab...

It would probably be a lot more effective chewed than smoked, so I wish they'd chosen a more palatable plant, like spearmint.