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From: dash@persci.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.rumor
Subject: Re: cocaine in (very) old coke... and sugar
Message-ID: <307@persci.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 30-Jul-85 11:56:51 EDT
Article-I.D.: persci.307
Posted: Tue Jul 30 11:56:51 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 2-Aug-85 06:31:42 EDT
References: <8765@microsoft.UUCP> <561@rtech.UUCP> <136@rpics.UUCP> <245@unccvax.UUCP> <901@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP>
Reply-To: dash@persci.UUCP (mike dash)
Organization: Personal Scientific, Woodinville WA
Lines: 29
Summary: early cocaine history; questions about sugar, and coca leaves

i see the current discussion about what does the coke company do with
the cocaine it takes out of the coca leaves... i'd like to contribute
some historical background and ask 2 questions.

background:	at the turn of the century, when cocaine was legal and
		the US imported a billion pounds a year of coca
		leaves, there was cocaine in coca-cola.  in fact,
		there was cocaine in lots of things and you could get
		it in various forms at the drug store (this is why
		drug stores have soda fountains -- so that people who
		were in a hurry for their cocaine could ask to have it
		mixed up with some soda-water and drink it right away,
		rather than having to go home first).

		then, around 1910, the medical profession began a
		movement for the restriction of cocaine and by 1920 it
		had been criminalized.

question 1:	why?  why was cocaine criminalized and sugar not
		(their early histories are similar)?  is this due to
		some Deeper Conspiracy on the part of people who
		wanted to drive cocaine prices UP?

question 2:	are we sure that coke still uses coca leaves?  where
		did this idea come from?  [if this was part of the
		earlier discussion, then i missed it...]

-- 
Mike Dash {ihnp4,decvax,allegra,...}!uw-beaver!tikal!persci!dash