Most things when they are discovered are not created to cause harm to people.

When

they are initially found, they are used for good. Gun powder was first used for fireworks and

used for celebrations. It took someone to figure out how to make it harmful and create guns

from it to kill people. Cocaine is one of those things. Cocaine is naturally found in the leaves of

the coco plant found in South America and is one of the oldest cultivated plants there. For

years, the indigenous people of South America used cultural and religious ceremonies without

any reported issues.

Through the years, cocaine was used in medicine worldwide until it became one of the

world's deadliest drugs. In 1860, German chemist Albert Nieman isolated a powder substance

from the leaves that, when he tasted it, his tongue became numb (History.com). Almost two

decades after Albert Nieman, Austrian ophthalmologist Carl Koller started to use cocaine during

his cataract surgery because the other drugs he used, ether and chlorophyll, made patients

vomit. No one thought of the effect cocaine had or its addictiveness because it was also in

children's toothache medicine, found in cough medicine and headache medicine (History.com).

The drug has been marketed to be used for depression, sinus, and impotence. It was sold

everywhere from drug stores, bars, and even in the Sears catalog. The effects of cocaine were

so overlooked that it was used in drinks.

In 1860, French chemist Angelo Mariani created a drink out of coca leaves and called Vin

Mariani. He claimed it "restored health and vitality" (history.com). Years later, an American

doctor John Pemberton made a similar drink and called it Pemberton French wine until

prohibition. In 1886 because of prohibition, Dr. Pemberton created Coca-Cola as an alternative

to wine. Coca-cola and the wine both contain pure coca leave with cocaine in it. Coca-Cola was
distributed in segregated soda fountains all across America and was sold at 5 cents per glass.

The was an estimated 9 milligrams of cocaine in every glass. Which is far less than what a

typical line of cocaine is.

A few years after Coca-cola started to bottle their product and sell it in more urban

neighborhoods, the addictiveness of cocaine in Coca-cola became a concern. Even though the

formula had not changed from what they were drinking, middle-class white people felt coca-

cola contributed to the rise in black cocaine users. The southern new paper said it made black

people rape white women and were uncontrollable by the police. Cocaine eventually was

removed from coca-cola 11 years before the government outlawed it. In 1914 the Harrison

narcotics act was the first legalization of cocaine that was pushed by racist support because of

what newspapers and racist politicians capitalized on white fear of the "negro cocaine fiend"

(history.com).

Throughout the year's cocaine use rose in the United States. According to the Drug

Enforcement Agency, in the 1970s, the price of crack dropped by 80 percent (history.com).

However, in the 1980s, the government saw an increase in cocaine use from an already

staggering 4.2 million people to 5.8 million people. Because of the rise in crime in specific

neighborhood's it was now being called the crack epidemic. In 1986 the war on drugs that

disproportionately targeted black people began.

Cocaine has many different names and different ways of being consumed. Crack rock is

a crystallized version of cocaine and is significantly cheaper. In the 80s, the price was 5 dollars a

rock. In crack rock form, it is smoked or melted down and injected. The effects are usually
immediate and can last between 10 – 15 minutes. When cocaine is in power form, It can be

called snow, nose candy, and blow. Powder cocaine is the most expensive version of cocaine

and held a lighter sentence than crack rock if caught with it. Cocaine in powder form is snorted.

When it is snorted, it can take a longer time for the effects to happen and usually last for 30

minutes. The effects can make a person feel euphoric (history.com). In small amounts of

cocaine usually make the user feel euphoric, energetic, talkative, mentally alert, and

hypersensitive to sight, sound, and touch (www.drugabuse.gov). In large doses, it can make a

person high feel more intense but can lead to out-of-the-ordinary and violent behavior.

Cocaine produces its effect by affecting the dopamine in the brain, stimulating the

reward centers. Cocaine attaches to the dopamine transporters. Because the cocaine is

blocking the receptor, it causes the back up of dopamine in the synapses and stops dopamine

from being cycled out. This is what produces a euphoric feeling after taking the drug. The more

a person takes cocaine, it can overstimulate the brain's reward center and create a need for

more of the drug. People are chasing the euphoric feeling that creates the addiction to cocaine.

When we focus on the Cocaine effects to the brain, people usually focus on the brains'

reward system, but it does affect the brain in other ways like stress. Cocaine also affects the

brain pathways the stress response. When tested on mice that received cocaine repeatedly

were more like to seek the drug in response to stress, and the more of the drug they have

taken, the more stress affects this behavior (www.drugabuse.com). Cocaine has also been

shown to slow down the orbital frontal cortex. This has shown that users poor decision making,

inability to adapt to negative consequences of drug use (drugabuse.com). Cocaine slows down

the glucose metabolism in the brain, causing the neurons in the brain to slow down and die out
and could cause heart attacks because of the loss of blood vessels in the brain, making the

heart work harder.

Cocaine addiction has destroyed many lives because of how it affects their lives, health,

and people around them. Some drug users can contract a disease from sharing needles and

sleeping around for drugs. Cocaine can change a person from friendly to physically violent.

Many people can go into financial ruins because of their addiction to the drug. Some will lose

their jobs because of how the drug affects their behavior or drug testing policy. People will beg,

borrow, steal, and sell their bodies to continue to feel the euphoric effects of cocaine.

Some people lose their family while being addicted to the drug because of the changes

in behavior. People who abuse drugs can sometimes abuse family. They will steal from the

people they claim to love and hurt the one they claim to love. Unfortunately, the ultimate

destruction is death by overdose. Even though many people whose lives crumble because of

cocaine addiction, some can live somewhat stable lives. They go to work, provide for their

family the whole time, having a crippling addiction.

People can spend their entire adult life addict to cocaine and never seek the help they

need. Then some people go to seek help from a rehab center. Getting the body free of cocaine

does not come with its own set of issues. Most people getting clean from drugs go through

withdrawal. Withdrawal is the syndrome of often painful physical and psychological systems

that follows the discontinuance of an addicting drug (Merriam Webster). Because of the

constant use of drugs, a person's body can get used to having the substance in them.
 People are going through substance withdrawal, especially those addicted to cocaine

because the excess use of cocaine creates dopamine in the brain. Since the brain is used to

getting dopamine from cocaine, the brain stops creating as much of it. People can mentally

experience depression, restlessness, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts from the lack of dopamine

in the brain. Physically they can feel symptoms like chills, tremors, muscle aches, and nerve

pain. Some people will get violent because of the lack of the drug. Each person's journey to

recovery is different. Depending on usage, withdrawals can last from a few days to a few weeks.

When chemist Albert Nieman first extracted the powder substance from the coco plant,

he intended to help people. It was not his intention to create an epidemic in the united states.

When Dr. Pemberton created his drink, he did not think it would help bring to light the

addictive qualities, even if it was only pointed out in black people. It became a substance used

in medicine for adults and children then used as an additive in wine and sodas. For years it was

unchecked and not regulated until the 80s.

Cocaine is a highly addictive and dangerous drug. When someone starts the drug, they

are very like to get addicted. Cocaine is like an abusive lover. It feels good at first, but

eventually, it slowly breaks you down and turns you into a person you would have never been

had you never met it. The lows of cocaine out way the 10 to 30 min high you can get. The

damage it does to the brain and the body could be irreversible, but it is not guaranteed. Many

people still feel the effect on their life even after quitting. Some people could get their life

together after addiction, but the road to recovery is a lifetime comment and journey.
1. Cocaine, Author History.com Editors,
https://www.history.com/topics/crime/history-of-cocaine, Access Date April 14,
2021, Publisher A&E Television Networks Last Updated August 21, 2018, Original
Published Date May 31, 2017

2. NIDA. 2020, May 28. What are some ways that cocaine changes the brain? Retrieved
from https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/cocaine/what-are-
some-ways-cocaine-changes-brain 2021, April 14

3. How Cocaine Addiction Can Impact Your Relationships By Amanda Vining

4. Ten dangerous drugs once market as medicine, By Staff Writers

5. 7 of the Most Outrageous Medical Treatments in History BRYNN HOLLAND