The Cocainemaker, Reefer Madness, and the Vice-President of the Coca-Cola Company
owl writes:
Three part story. And, as it is on Medium (yuck), archive links are provided should the Medium links go hidden or disappear:
Part 1: The Cocainemaker, Reefer Madness, and the Vice-President of The Coca-Cola Company
https://rmcortes.medium.com/the-cocainemaker-reefer-madness-and-the-vice-president-of-the-coca-cola-company-e1b39e65b63c#.b43mv3bzh
Archive Link: https://archive.is/rdUt2
Part 2: How Coca-Cola Changed the World for Coca
https://rmcortes.medium.com/how-coke-changed-the-world-for-coca-95ccec58193b#.xa0rcxrdi
Archive link: https://archive.is/gbQeo
Part 3: I Wasn't the First Person to Find the NJ Cocaine Factory
https://rmcortes.medium.com/i-wasnt-the-first-to-find-the-nj-cocaine-factory-5f37aed74776
Archive link: https://archive.is/XypPx
In 1886, a pharmacist named Dr. John Pemberton mixed extract of the green coca leaf - containing the recently discovered marvel of cocaine - with the caffeine kick of West African kola nuts, making a "Brain Workers' Panacea" tonic called Coca-Cola.
Touted to relieve mental and physical exhaustion, "Coke" arrived alongside a wave of cocaine products advertised to ease toothaches and labor pains. Cocaine was said to cure fatigue, nervousness, impotence, even addiction to morphine.
But the medical miracle soon changed into the story of a crime epidemic. Cocaine's addictive properties were discovered and its increased availability fueled racial fears: cocaine made Negroes insane and murderous; Jewish doctors were identified as its peddlers.
The United States began prohibition of coca leaf, along with the cocaine it produces, with the Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914.
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