Cocaine in America

Cocaine has been used for many different types of solutions. It also used to be in a well known soda today, Coca-Cola. The first well known authority for this drug was a psychologist named Sigmund Freud. At the beginning of his career he promoted cocaine as a safe and useful boost that could be used to help depression and sexual impotence. Later on in 1886 John Pemberton included cocaine as a main ingredient in his new soft drink, Coca-Cola. Adding this ingredient to his product had energizing effects on his customers. This soon became the most popular soft drink in history.

Cocaine was used in several pain-relieving medications. One product was cocaine drops used to help soothe the pain of toothaches. Cocaine is an effective local anesthetic, but its potential to be habit-forming caused most drug companies after the FDA was formed to remove the ingredient from their products' ingredient lists. With the toothache drops, users could look forward to a dulling of the pain as well as a general lift in mood and mild euphoria which was definitely due to the cocaine. Certain brands of cough drops also contained cocaine. One particular brand of lozenges from Belgium claimed that the drops were “indispensable for singers, teachers, and orators.” (http://wings.buffalo.edu/aru/preprohibition.htm)

Abusing cocaine for a long period of time had many side effects. The drug creates sleep deprivation and loss of appetite. A person might go days to weeks up without sleeping or eating. The user often experiences psychotic behavior. Then when the person is coming down off the drug it causes a major state of depression. A person can become so extreme for more of the drug that they will do anything to get their hands on it. After the American people became aware of these effects of the drug, there was a major outcry to band the drug. Eventually the public pressure was so great the country's legislators took notice and outlawed the drug by