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owl [soylentnews.org] 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 [medium.com]
Archive Link: https://archive.is/rdUt2 [archive.is]

Part 2: How Coca-Cola Changed the World for Coca
https://rmcortes.medium.com/how-coke-changed-the-world-for-coca-95ccec58193b#.xa0rcxrdi [medium.com]
Archive link: https://archive.is/gbQeo [archive.is]

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 [medium.com]
Archive link: https://archive.is/XypPx [archive.is]

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.

Original Submission