The History of Abuse: Where Cocaine Started

The History of Abuse: Where Cocaine started By Kendyl Lister Salt Lake Community College

The History of Abuse: Where Cocaine Started

Woe to you, my Princess, when I come. I will kiss you quite red and feed you till you are plump. And if you are froward, you shall see who is the stronger, a gentle little girl who doesn't eat enough, or a big wild man who has cocaine in his body. - A love letter from Sigmund Freud to his fiance. Erythroxylon Coca, better known as the Coca Shrub, is the source in which Cocaine is derived. Dating back about 3000 B.C., Ancient Indies from South America would chew the Coca leaves to help them during their work in the high altitudes of the Andes. The minute hints of cocaine would help workers breathe easier and fight off sluggishness during intense days of laboring. In 1532, Spain invades Peru. They take the Coca leaves and use them on their mine labor workers to keep them going longer and to better control them. As the Spaniards take the leaves back to Spain, the leaves lose their potency making the leaf ineffective and creating a doubt that the leaves contained anything at all causing the Coca plant to disappear from civil use for almost 300 years (Drug Free World,2013). In 1859, German Alchemist Albert Newmann makes the first Coca extraction (separation of drug from plant) and tests the extraction on his tongue to test its potency for anesthetic use. He then named the drug Cocaine. Approximately twenty years later in 1884, a German physician by the name Sigmund Freud was introduced to the drug Cocaine. In a book he later published, Freud promotes the use and benefits of Cocaine. A magical substance he writes, claiming it drove to moral and physical decadence (Uber-Coca, 1884; Drug Free World, 2013) He uses and distributes the drug

The History of Abuse: Where Cocaine Started

for depression and sexual impotence telling his patients that there was no lethal dose and the toxicity level is very high. By the mid-1880s, Cocaine was such a huge success for the medical and entertainment world that Doctors used Cocaine as a Cure-all additive to tonics and beverages and distributed them to people of all ages and backgrounds. Additionally, Angelo Mariani, a Corsican chemist, develops a mixture of cocaine and wine called Vin Mariani, which extended the half-life of the drug up to five times (Levinthol 2012). Between the tonics and Vin Mariani, celebrities took off in the promotion and abuse of the drug. The wide acceptance and the vacant restriction of cocaine spread like wild fire across the United States. Silent Films produced Pro-cocaine messages, inventors (Thomas Edison), actors (Sarah Berhardt), and business people of high regard (U.S. President William McKinley and Ulyss S. Grant) were used as endorsers to spread the use even further and faster. In 1886, John Pemberton makes adjustments to his mixture of cocaine and wine he labeled as French Wine Cola, removing the wine and adding carbonation and caffine derived from the Kola nut used for the syrup. (Levinthal, 2012) By 1903, the term dope fiend was coined to describe the long term use and abuse of cocaine addicts. Fiends had distinctive behaviors that became prevalent in the societal world of coke. The behaviors included: sleep deprivation, malnourishment, psychosis, hallucinations, delusions, and upon with drawl a severe state of depression and suicidal thoughts and tendencies (Narconon, 2013). At this point there was so much pressure from the public that had now seen cocaine as a nuisance and danger, that they had request that Coca Cola remove the Coca from their beverage.

The History of Abuse: Where Cocaine Started

1905, doctors are seeing an increasing trend in damaged nasal passages due to the new technique of snorting. (Drug Free World, 2013) 1912, Over 5,000 incidents of cocaine related deaths are reported to the U.S. Government. By 1922, Cocaine is placed on the list of banned drugs, winding up in the Dangerous Drug Act. (Narconon, 2013) 1970s: Cocaine reemerges as a fashionable drug for entertainers and business people. This time around cocaine picks up a new user. With the technique of smoking crack cocaine emerging, college student use of the drug skyrockets encouraging Columbian drug traffickers to setup large smuggling chains throughout the United States. 1980s: The crack cocaine epidemic shifts the perspective on its self. Starting as a wealthy mans drug it has now landed a reputation as being the dangerous, poverty stricken mans drug. Violence and crime spread throughout Eastern Urban centers upsetting law enforcement and the communities. Soon after the U.S.-Mexican border become the main focus as tunnels, special submarines, planes and helicopters filled with cocaine and their human mules flooded into the U.S.. As the 90s approached, Columbian cartels produce and export 500-800 tons of cocaine a year. U.S. law enforcement crack down on the cartels causing them to dismantle and create several smaller groups. Approaching 2008, Cocaine is the second most trafficked drug in the world.

The History of Abuse: Where Cocaine Started

Currently in 2013, Cocaine is a world-wide drug used in every economic and occupational level. People starting as young as 8 and up, in every race and ethnicity, are contributing to the distribution and reputation of cocaine as the most dangerous drug available. Two hundred years ago, cocaine was sought out as a pain reliever, anti-depressant, and sexual stimulant. Now, it has spread like venom intoxicating countries all over the world and creating violence and destroying lives. Children and young adults are being told that these powerful drugs will help through times of stress, make them happy and energetic and become mentally alert to aide them through school. What it is actually doing is creating anxiety, muscle twitches, restlessness, and constricted blood vessels. Some people die or end up in a coma. Once Freud realized he was in too deep with cocaine, he realized his previous statements praising the drug were all wrong and retracted them. At some point users may realize that their addiction is killing them and find a way to get help. Unfortunately many users do not. The lace of drugs creates a much more harmful addiction that is even more difficult to break. Peer pressure, society, improper education are all factors in which addicts fall victim to. I suppose the Indes had it right when they used the leaves raw and only for endurance. Society messed up trying to condense something so very toxic and using it with such greed that it destroyed itself. When will the end of Cocaine begin? With coke, you are like a moth stuck on a light. It attracts you more and more and you cant stop it. Its not physical. Its in your head. The more you have it, the more you take it. I have injected it in myself every ten minutes. I borrowed money from the bank to buy it. One day I became unemployed. It was worse. I used to shoot up all the time. This thing made me insane. I knew it, but I continued. I became a total failure. Marilyn (Drug Free World, 2013)

The History of Abuse: Where Cocaine Started

References Foundation for a Drug Free World; 2006-2013 http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/cocaine/a-short-history.html Freud, Sigmeund Uber-Coca; 1884 Chapter 2, pp. 289-314 Narconon International; 2010-2013 http://www.narconon.org/drug-information/cocaine-history.html NIDA-Cocaine Abuse facts; April 2013 http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/cocaine Levinthal, Charles F.; Drugs, Behavior and Modern Society; 2012 Ch.4, pp. 90-96