After some review of the document on Rhodiums site of cocaine synthesis, one might note a few glaring errors, that must have been put in to sway the amature. Assuming you can get to the methylecgonine step, we come to where the author suggests using 10 grams of RaNi for ~5 grams of material, which sounds like overkill. He then suggests a Li hydride, but we all know that could destroy our lovely methyl ester family, so we come to our old selective friend NaBH4! 1 Mole Methylecgonine + 1 Mole NaBH4 in EtOH stirred at room temp for say 3 hours, then quenched with 10% H2SO4 would do the trick? Comments?