An Australian cocaine plant with cheap and available seeds, that is said to be legal to grow in the Territory, and that can be used as a hedge or a bonsai plant, could grab the attention of plant enthusiasts from the Fifth Floor, to the corporate world, to Mitchell St goers, or those who just want some privacy from their neighbours.

The Australian cocaine bush is directly related to the coca plant which produces cocaine, and it thrives in Top End conditions according to an expert.

But it is very hard to say what it will do to you, or for you, if it will help you win friends and influence people, or help you buy that big new pad in Cullen Bay with water views, and a Lamborghini Veneno.

Queensland-based Herbalistics Pty Ltd owner Darren Williams said his business sells five seeds of the plant officially known as Erythroxylum australe, online for just $9.95.

“People are interested in it because of its name and the fact that it’s in the same genus as the coca plant. It’s common name is Australian cocaine bush,” he told the NT Independent.

“It’s a great little native species with sweet edible fruit and highly drought-hardy.

“It does contain other chemicals which may be of interest to medicine and it should be investigated more.”

Mr Williams said the plant, also known as the dogwood, is illegal to grow in New South Wales, where it is native, but legal in Queensland and the Northern Territory.

NT Police did not respond to an NT Independent question about whether the plant was legal to grow in the Territory.

Mr Williams said he found it strange it was banned in NSW but legal in other areas.

“It’s hard to believe a native plant can be illegal to grow in its home state, where it has been growing and evolving for all time,” he said.

“What does this mean for wild growing plants? That the NSW National Parks or the State Government is guilty of cultivating a prohibited plant in its parks and forests?”

What it is

Strangely the Australian cocaine bush does not seem well researched.

Although it doesn’t produce the same cocaine product as the coca plant, a 1967 CSIRO report published in the Australian Journal of Chemistry – which seems to be one of only a few scientific examinations of its chemical proprieties – said the Australian cocaine bush’s leaves contained 0.8 per cent meteloidine, which is described in the the University of Melbourne’s Meanjin publication as an alkaloid rather like the benzoylmethylecgonine in coca leaves.

“Evidence has been quoted that cocaine-like alkaloids may be present, but detailed examination of the alkaloids had not been made. It has now been found that the major alkaloid and the one most readily isolated is meteloidine,” the Australian Journal of Chemistry paper said.

There is not a lot of information about meteloidine online but Science Direct says like cocaine it is a tropane alkaloid, a group of compounds found in plants, most used as medicines, that have applications that include analgesia, hallucinogens, and poisons.

“They are known to cause cardiac disorders, mainly related to heart rate disturbances, and also euphoric states, disorientation, depressive activity toward the central nervous system,” it said.

“Tropane alkaloids, due to their CNS activity are often abused. Among them cocaine is the compound of global significance.”

The meteloidine is found in a higher percentage in the Australian plant’s leaves, than the 0.25 per cent to 0.77 per cent cocaine yield found in coca leaves.

But it may be a combination of different alkaloids that create the longed-for effects drug takers are after.

It is also mentioned on a website offering up suggestions for Australian “natural highs” that also included magic mushrooms, cane toads and some types of eucalyptus trees, but no evidence or description of its effects were offered.

Growing some bush blow in the NT

While other species of Erythroxylum are native to the Territory, Mr Williams said the Australian cocaine bush would thrive in the Top End.

“It would grow well in the NT as they are quite used to seasonally wet and dry, very tolerant of Australian conditions,” he said.

It would hopefully better than the vines on the Cavenagh St shade structure.

But budding ‘druggardeners’ have their work cut out for them to grow and harvest enough plant to ever have a powder to make the night go slightly quicker and edgier.

According to a UN World Drug report from 2017 in Colombia they produced about 8.2kg of cocaine per hectare per year in high rainfall areas, but as the average Australian block size is 0.0474 ha, with a fair chunk of that taken up by a house, potential crop areas would be small. While still potentially lucrative, ‘druggardeners’ would also need to consider the time and hassle of production and the need for cement, petrol, ammonia, sulfuric acid, sodium permanganate, caustic soda, among other chemicals that would be used to create the gardening product they would really care about.

Then they would have to factor in the additional costs of drug lord compound-like fencing, a security camera system, armed guards, machine guns, bribing the police, the military, and politicians, and buying a private jet, gold rings and chains, and rubber bands to wrap their wads of cash.

It would take a lot of Erythroxylum australe plants to harvest a product; growing a different crop in your yard, such as cut flowers or mangoes, may be a easier, and nicer option.

There is very little credible information on the plant and what effects its chemicals may produce in a human. The person with the most detailed account easily found online is someone simply known as “Torsten” on the Shaman Australia website who said they had “regrettably tried the leaves”.

“You will find that meteloidine is actually closely related to the Brugmansia alkaloids (tropanes) and bears little resemblance to cocaine. It is also inactive in humans,” they wrote.

“The other species {he does not specify which ones] up north look a lot more interesting. If you check out their chemistry you will find that one of them contains a molecule virtually identical to cocaine, except that the linking chain is one carbon longer. This species also has a history of use as an expectorant [used to treat coughs].”

“After chewing the (australe) leaves for a couple of minutes my throat constricted quite severely. My esophagus became cramped and this feeling lasted for 30 minutes. There was no stimulation, numbness or any other effect. Quite unspectacular but a little scary as the constriction was unpredictable.”

Of the other species grown in northern Australia, he may have been referring to Erythroxylum ecarinatum, also known as the brown plum and which grows on the Atherton Tablelands near Cairns.

It contains tropacocaine, according to a study Alkaloids of Erythroxylum cuneatum, Erythroxylum ecarinatum and Erythroxylum australe published in 1988.

It has a similar structure of cocaine and is believed to act in a similar way but with about a tenth of the potency.

“These plants make a handsome addition to the garden and can be pruned, fertilised and watered regularly to maintain an attractive habit,” the reads.

“Well drained soil in a full sun to part shade position. Some people are even making hedges out of them as they shape well and are a short shrub (1-2m). I am finding they make an excellent drought hardy bonsai that trains well.”

One review of the plant on the site states: “A must-have for any collector of natives/medicinals”.

The plant and its effects has also be discussed by the ‘druggardening community’ on Reddit.