As previously posted, Pope Francis plans to chew coca leaves and already drank tea infused with coca, the raw ingredient in cocaine, during his visit to Bolivia.
Psychedelic historian Michael Horowitz points out that Francis is following in the footsteps of Pope Leo XII who appeared in an advertisement for the coca-infused French wine Vin Mariani, popular in the late 19th century.
Leo purportedly kept a flask of the stuff with him and in fact awarded its chemist creator, Angelo Mariani, with a medal of appreciation.
Vin Mariani on Wikiepdia (thanks, Mike Horowitz!)
(image source: Wikipedia)
