Coca Plantation

A plant with leaves, almost like any other plant, is the origin of a black market industry that turn around billions of dollars every year. In spite of the efforts of all the governments in the world the narco traffic cannot be stopped. There are people who are richer even than Bill Gates and all their money comes from cocaine. Yet, the cocaine wasn’t always seen like that.

In ancient times, South American natives used coca for religious and medicinal purposes. They used its stimulant properties to fight fatigue and hunger, and to enhance endurance. The Spanish conquistador banned coca at first, but when they discovered that the addicted natives could barely work the fields in the gold mines without it, they began to distribute it to the workers three or four times a day.

The Spanish conquistadors introduced coca to Europe, where it was used only occasionally until the 19th Century. The active ingredient of the coca plant was first isolated in 1859. Coca leaves were soon processed into cocaine hydrochloride, the powder form of the drug. However, cocaine was taken mostly in liquid form at that time, whether by mouth or by injection. Sigmund Freud experimented with cocaine extensively in the latter part of the century. Doctors began to use cocaine as an antidote to morphine addiction, but some of the patients ended up addicted to both.

In 1863, the coca wine Vin Mariani went on sale throughout France. It contained 6 mg cocaine per ounce of wine in France, but exported Vin Mariani contained 7.2 mg per ounce to compete with the higher cocaine content of American competitors.

German ophthalmologist, Carl Koller, discovered cocaine’s effectiveness as an anesthetic for eye surgery in about 1880. Until that time, eye surgery was done without adequate anesthesia, sometimes requiring a conscious patient to move his eye without flinching as a surgeon directed him.

Cocaine was soon sold over-the-counter. Until 1914, one could buy it at department stores. It was widely used in tonics, toothache cures and patent medicines, and in chocolate cocaine tablets.

Coca-Cola was introduced in 1886 and was promoted as a drink “offering the virtues of coca without the vices of alcohol.” Until 1903, a typical serving contained around 60mg of cocaine. The new beverage was invigorating and popular. Today, Coca-Cola is still flavored with an extract of coca-leaves, but contains none of the drug itself.

By 1890, the addicting and psychosis-producing nature of cocaine was well understood in the medical community, but no laws banning the general use of the drug were made until 1914. Perhaps it was cocaine’s effectiveness in reducing the swelling of mucous membranes, consequently enlarging the nasal and bronchial passages, that gave users the idea of sniffing cocaine. Whatever the origin of that idea, by 1905 it was the most popular method of using the drug. In 1910, the first cases of nasal damage from cocaine snorting were written of in medical literature. In 1912, the U.S. Government reported 5,000 deaths from cocaine use, when the US population was only a third of what it is today! And since then it became what is today.

We strongly recommend to everyone reading this article to stay out of cocaine abuse, however, if you or someone close to you have problems with cocaine addiction, we suggest you to visit DrugRehabServices.com.