My wife and I are travelling to Peru. She is Peruvian and LOVES mate de coca (tea made from coca leaves.) Of course mate de coca is much, much, much less potent than cocaine. (It takes over 30 pounds of coca leaf to make one ounce of cocaine.) She says that we are allowed to bring some of it home with us. Is this true? How much? Where can I find out and/or confirm?
Thanx
2006-12-14 11:37:32 · 10 answers · asked by ksjazzguitar 4 in Travel ➔ Latin America ➔ Peru
Avoid trouble. Just buy some boxes of Mate de Coca teabags. It is legal... because I have brought lots of them already ;)
2006-12-17 10:33:26 · answer #1 · answered by Sergio__ 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Technically, no. Any byproducts of coca leaf are illegal (because of cocaine). However, I always bring 2 or 3 100-teabag boxes when I visit Peru and since it is already packaged, airport personnel doesn't see it as a threat. The reason why its not a big deal is because you would need about 1 ton of coca leaves (that's a few thousand teabags) just to make about one gram of the white stuff. The worst thing that could happen is they take it away from you because it is blacklisted, but won't treat it as a drug so there won't be legal consequences. Keep in mind that if you drink coca tea, you will fail any drug tests for the following 3 to 5 days after drinking even though you were not doing drugs.
2016-03-14 03:24:49 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mate De Coca
2016-10-07 13:09:55 · answer #3 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It has always been illegal. Although the government of Bolivia is trying to change this, coca leaves are considered by the UN to be drugs and are banned from importation in the U.S.
You cannot legally import mate de coca or trimate. Before 9-11 I had no problem bringing it in but since 9-11 things have changed.
A year ago, I tried to bring in trimate (an anise, camomille, coca mix) and it was seized. I was not however arrested but it was not a pleasant experience. The trimate was in tea bags.
2006-12-15 00:27:54 · answer #4 · answered by yellowstone 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋
To bring the actual coca leaves back to the U.S. is definitely illegal. I went to Peru in October and wish I could've brought some back with me too. But the mate de coca in the teabags is legal. It's not as potent, but it's better than nothing. I brought some back with me this way. Enjoy the fresh coca leaves while you're there! I loved it during my visit!
2006-12-15 08:10:04 · answer #5 · answered by Jacinda 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
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RE:
Bringing home mate de coca?
My wife and I are travelling to Peru. She is Peruvian and LOVES mate de coca (tea made from coca leaves.) Of course mate de coca is much, much, much less potent than cocaine. (It takes over 30 pounds of coca leaf to make one ounce of cocaine.) She says that we are allowed to bring some of it...
2015-08-10 08:37:00 · answer #6 · answered by Cherice 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its not allowed.
Which is why you cannot buy it legally(at least) in a Andean market type store in the US.
I know its not cocaine and all that but actually there is a 50 year old UN ban on the sale of coca leaf overseas, since Mate De Coca is leaf, its under that ban.
And the other things is the US customs people prolly dont know that leaf is not "cocaine" and your just asking for alot of hassles.
Sorryy
I like it too, I had it when I was in the mountains there.
2006-12-15 08:33:39 · answer #7 · answered by Patrick B 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Well, I don't know if things are different where you are, but when I was in Peru, I definitely wasn't allowed to take any mate de coca tea home with me to Ireland.
2006-12-15 00:14:02 · answer #8 · answered by Pauline N 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I believe pre-processed, packaged, sealed and labeled products for personal consumption are permitted. If one person is bringing a certain amount of tea for personal use, that cannot be converted to any amount of illegal substance, they should be able to declare it with no problem.
2006-12-17 20:51:20 · answer #9 · answered by dracomullet 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
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I am pretty sure you can, it is dry so my guess is yes. However, I would not put it in my carry-on bag for sure.
2016-04-07 21:17:55 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋