Cocaine is made using a chemical refining process from the leaves of the coca plant, which is typically found and cultivated in the mountainous regions of South America, most commonly in countries of Columbia, Peru, and Bolivia. The coca plant has been used for over a thousand years by the indigenous people of South America, who chewed the plant for its mild stimulant effects. When the cocaine in the plant is isolated and processed, its potency increases dramatically.Making cocaine from these leaves is a relatively simple three-step process. First, the leaves of the coca plant are harvested and made into “coca paste.” The coca paste is rendered into a cocaine base, which ultimately turns into cocaine hydro-chloride. The manufacturing process requires various chemicals such as kerosene, sulfuric acid, sodium carbonate, hydrochloric acid, potassium permanganate, and acetone. Some of these chemicals remain in the cocaine as byproducts of the poor standards used in the manufacturing processes.