Cocaine is made from from the leaves of the coca plant which is native to the high mountain ranges of South America. In as early as 3000 B.C., natives of this area chewed on the raw leaves which produces mild stimulus similar to the effects of a strong coffee. Due to the characteristics of the coca plant- which provides many essential nutrients, is rich in proteins and vitamins, and can grow where many other plants can’t- it is quite possible that the consumption of the coca leaves was a matter of survival for many. Coca was primarily grown in the Andes, where it is difficult to grow nutritious plants and where the extra energy boost and pain relieving qualities came in handy due to the high altitudes. This afforded native laborers of the region the stamina to perform their duties in the thin air at high altitudes.

 

in 1859, Albert Niemann at the University of Gottingen had succeeded in isolating this substance contained in the coca leaves brought in from the mountains of the Andes. Thanks to this property of the derivative from the coca leaves, it was possible to apply a cocaine injection of 2% on the nerve of a diseased molar and remove it without having the patient suffer and be tortured by pain. We can imagine that this was a momentous moment in medical history. It marked the passing of the traumatic, painful, dangerous and primitive surgical methods to the painless surgery of the twentieth century, which permitted great advances in the medical sciences. The coca leaves and the miraculous substance against pain, cocaine, soon rose to the pinnacle of pharmacology and medicine.

 

Well known psychologists such as Freud believed in the use of cocaine, and even storybook characters like Sherlock Holmes glorified its use. It was described as a magical drug. The way it actually worked was by interfering with the reuptake of chemicals such as dopamine (found in the midbrain), and creating a sense of exhilaration. In 1884, Sigmund Freud published On Coca in which he recommended the use of cocaine to treat a variety of conditions including morphine addiction.

 

By 1886, Coca-Cola was introduced by John Pemberton, containing cocaine laced syrup and caffeine. The original ingredient included five ounces of coca leaf per gallon of syrup. Coca-Cola removed coca from their formula in 1903.

 

From the 1850's to the early 1900's, cocaine and other narcotics like opium and heroin began to be used as an active ingredient in a variety of "cure all" tonics and beverages. In many of the tonics that drug companies were producing at this time, cocaine would be mixed with opiates and administered freely to old and young alike. It wasn't until some years later that the dangers of these drugs became apparent. 

 

Over the course of the next several years the American majority became more and more aware of the dangers of cocaine. As the severity of this problem became more and more apparent, concern mounted to an eventual public outcry to ban the social use of cocaine in 1914. In 1970, the Controlled Substances Act officially made cocaine illegal in the United States as a Schedule II drug, DEA 9041.