root@microsoft.UUCP (Super User) (07/13/85)
Although its true that the original Coke formulation had some cocaine in it, it was in trace amounts. You'd have to drink more than a gallon of the syrup (which was how it was originally consumed, anyway) to get a good dose of cocaine. The cocaine had the same role in the formula that cola leaves do now - it was there for the sake of listing it on the ingredients. (Cola leaves don't taste like "cola"... cola is a totally artificial flavor. Cola leaves taste very bad, which is why so few are put in Coke, so you can't taste them. Other colas don't bother with any cola leaves...) There was a popular wine at the time, whose name I forget, which had very significant amounts of cocaine in it. One of the biggest fans of that wine was Thomas Edison. Remember in grade school you were told that the "great man" only slept a few hours a night? gordon letwin microsoft
hugh@hcrvx1.UUCP (Hugh Redelmeier) (07/15/85)
In article <8765@microsoft.UUCP> root@microsoft.UUCP (gordon letwin) writes: >The cocaine had the same role in the formula >that cola leaves do now - it was there for the sake of listing it on >the ingredients. (Cola leaves don't taste like "cola"... cola is a >totally artificial flavor. Cola leaves taste very bad, which is why >so few are put in Coke, so you can't taste them. Other colas don't bother >with any cola leaves...) Cola leaves are uninteresting. Cocaine comes from coca leaves. Cola nuts (not the people, the things that grow on cola bushes or trees or whatever) are used in cola drinks (sometimes?).
jeff@rtech.UUCP (Jeff Lichtman) (07/17/85)
> > Although its true that the original Coke formulation had some cocaine > in it, it was in trace amounts. You'd have to drink more than a gallon > of the syrup (which was how it was originally consumed, anyway) to get > a good dose of cocaine. The cocaine had the same role in the formula > that cola leaves do now - it was there for the sake of listing it on > the ingredients. (Cola leaves don't taste like "cola"... cola is a > totally artificial flavor. Cola leaves taste very bad, which is why > so few are put in Coke, so you can't taste them. Other colas don't bother > with any cola leaves...) > > gordon letwin You're confusing coca leaves with cola nuts. Coca leaves contain cocaine; Coca Cola many years ago contained cocaine from coca leaves, but not much. According to the book "Big Secrets" (I don't remember the author), a bottle of Coke had about the same stimulating effect as a cup of coffee. They extracted most of the cocaine from the leaves, but left enough in to create the effect (not intentionally, said the Coca Cola company). Eventually, the federal government made them take all the cocaine out. However, they still use the leaves in the drink, after extracting the cocaine. I have no idea what they do with the drug after extracting it. I'm also not sure how coca leaves taste. Cola nuts contain no cocaine, and almost no flavor. According to "Big Secrets," there have been taste tests comparing cola (the drink) with and without cola nuts, and no one could tell the difference. If I find my copy of "Big Secrets," I will post the whole story of Coca Cola. -- Jeff Lichtman at rtech (Relational Technology, Inc.) aka Swazoo Koolak {amdahl, sun}!rtech!jeff {ucbvax, decvax}!mtxinu!rtech!jeff
cuccia@ucbvax.ARPA (Nick "Coosh" Cuccia) (07/17/85)
In article <8765@microsoft.UUCP> root@microsoft.UUCP (Super User) writes: >There was a popular wine at the time, whose name I forget, which had >very significant amounts of cocaine in it. One of the biggest fans >of that wine was Thomas Edison. Remember in grade school you were >told that the "great man" only slept a few hours a night? The name of the wine is in _The Book of Lists_, along with the names of many people who were fond of it. Among those names was one Queen Victoria... > gordon letwin > microsoft ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ --Nick "Coosh" Cuccia --{...}!ucbvax!cuccia (USENET) --cuccia%ucbmiro@Berkeley (Arpanet) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The University wouldn't dare say some of the things that I say... ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
bob@nbires.UUCP (Bob Bruck) (07/17/85)
> Although its true that the original Coke formulation had some cocaine > in it... Is that what they meant when they said that "Coke Adds Life" ??? Bob Bruck NBI Inc. (hao | allegra | ...)!nbires!bob
alan@drivax.UUCP (Alan Fargusson) (07/18/85)
> use the leaves in the drink, after extracting the cocaine. I have no idea > what they do with the drug after extracting it. I'm also not sure how > coca leaves taste. I read (in Forbs I think) that they are the worlds largest supplier of cocaine for reaserch. -- Alan Fargusson. { ihnp4, amdahl, mot }!drivax!alan
colonel@gloria.UUCP (Col. G. L. Sicherman) (07/18/85)
["If this is dope then I'm the pope!"] > >There was a popular wine at the time, whose name I forget, which had > >very significant amounts of cocaine in it. One of the biggest fans > >of that wine was Thomas Edison. Remember in grade school you were > >told that the "great man" only slept a few hours a night? > > The name of the wine is in _The Book of Lists_, along with the names > of many people who were fond of it. Or call 800/GET-COKE and ask for Sneaky Pete. -- Col. G. L. Sicherman UU: ...{rocksvax|decvax}!sunybcs!colonel CS: colonel@buffalo-cs BI: csdsicher@sunyabva
tracy@ihuxl.UUCP (Kim) (07/19/85)
> > Although its true that the original Coke formulation had some cocaine > > in it... > > Is that what they meant when they said that "Coke Adds Life" ??? > Of course COKE is also "The Real Thing". Kim Tracy ..ihnp4!ihuxl!tracy AT&T Bell Labs Naperville, IL
connolly@steinmetz.UUCP (C. Ian Connolly) (07/22/85)
My God...to think a druggie founded this company...Somehow, it shows... -- C. Ian Connolly, WA2IFI - USENET: ...edison!steinmetz!connolly , , ARPANET: connolly@ge-crd An rud a bhionn, bionn.
johnl@ima.UUCP (07/23/85)
/* Written 3:50 am Jul 17, 1985 by jeff@rtech in ima:net.rumor */ > use the leaves in the drink, after extracting the cocaine. I have no idea > what they do with the drug after extracting it. I'm also not sure how > coca leaves taste. It's true, Coca Cola sells the cocaine they extract legally. But I doubt that they use much coca leaf in Coca Cola. When I was in Peru, they gave me coca leaf tea for altitude sickness, and it tasted distinctly like old sweat socks. Not much of an improvement over the splitting headache that it was treating. But this is boring. Let's have some real rumors, like, hmmn, 4.3 BSD is being held up because IBM has secretly given millions to the UCB CS department, and it will turn out that it runs only on a hitherto unannounced laptop System/38. John Levine, ima!johnl
weltyrp@rpics.UUCP (Richard Welty) (07/23/85)
> ... I have no idea > what they do with the drug after extracting it. ... Could be that they sell it to the (legal) drug industry ... cocaine is a common, useful, effective local anesthetic. Just put a little powder around the spot in question, and all the feeling goes away. It is used, for example, when removing warts. -- Rich Welty "Here young Walter is remembering his early days on the planet Krypton, with his father Jor-El Cronkite" - David Brinkley, on SCTV CSNet: weltyrp@rpi ArpaNet: weltyrp.rpi@csnet-relay UUCP: seismo!rpics!weltyrp
dsi@unccvax.UUCP (Dataspan Inc) (07/24/85)
Wrongo. Cocaine is a lousy topical anesthetic. Applied to unbroken
skin, the absorption is pretty much el-zippo. As for its use in oro-nasal
surgery, it is effective, but Lidocaine (xylocaine) is far, far, far
safer. There were certain problems associated with a preparation popular
in the first part of the century called 'cocaine mud', whose vasoconstricion
action was so profound that ulceration and necrosis of the tissues exposed
was often achieved.
I don't know what Coca-Cola does with the extract of all those coca
leaves, but the synthesis of cocaine has been detailed at great length in
one of the 1979 issues of Journal of the American Chemical Society. It would
seem (after reading the article) that some of the intermediates would be far]
more useful in the preparation of ethical pharmaceuticals than would reverse
engineering methyl ecognine (cocaine) to the intermediate you want.
Then again, if you rip off one of the methyl radicals from the cocaine
molecule, you get atropine, which western societies must consume tons of
in the notorious 'cough/cold' preparations. Atropine is also commonly
used as an adjunct to get an otherwise Schedule II narcotic declassified
to schedule III (such as certain prescription cough medicines containing
hydrocodone bitartrate, or barbiturates in such preparations as Donnatal (tm))
This might be where all that cocaine is going?
Does anyone know whether or not cocaine hydrochloride, USP (and N.F.)
has been bumped up to Schedule I? There wouldn't seem to be a rational basis
left for ethical use.
David Anthony
DataSpan, Incpeter@baylor.UUCP (Peter da Silva) (07/24/85)
> > You're confusing coca leaves with cola nuts. Coca leaves contain cocaine; > Coca Cola many years ago contained cocaine from coca leaves, but not much. > According to the book "Big Secrets" (I don't remember the author), a bottle > of Coke had about the same stimulating effect as a cup of coffee. > According to "Big Secrets", that was because of the caffeine, not the cocaine. I believe Coca Cola uses acetone to remove the cocaine, much like Sanka uses it to make decaf coffee. The extracted cocaine is dissolved in acetone and only a suicidal speed-freak would consider using it. "Big Secrets" is a neat book. Look up what it says about Colonel Sanders & MSG. -- -- Peter da Silva (the mad Australian) -- UUCP: ...!shell!neuro1!{hyd-ptd,baylor,datafac}!peter -- ARPA: baylor.peter@RICE.ARPA -- MCI: PDASILVA; CIS: 70216,1076; DELPHI: PJDASILVA --
mmar@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Mitchell Marks) (07/27/85)
Re: what legitimate use is left for cocaine?
When I worked in a hospital pharmacy ('75-'80) we used cocaine as an
ingredient in ``Brompton's Cocktail''. This is a powerful pain-killer,
available in circumstances where producing narcotic addiction is not
a concern (in general, this would mean terminally ill cancer patients).
Besides ethanol and a morphine-derivative narcotic, this mixture contains
a stimulant to prevent stupor, feelings of "disconnection", and depression.
Cocaine was one option for the stimulant ingredient.
--
-- Mitch Marks @ UChicago
...ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!mmardcmartin@sun.uucp (David C. Martin) (07/29/85)
In article <34300001@ima.UUCP> johnl@ima.UUCP writes: > >But this is boring. Let's have some real rumors, like, hmmn, 4.3 BSD is >being held up because IBM has secretly given millions to the UCB CS department, >and it will turn out that it runs only on a hitherto unannounced laptop >System/38. > >John Levine, ima!johnl No, it's much more insidious than that! AT&T and IBM are both attempting to take over the UCB CS department from within. For all it's vaunted glory, Edition 8 is snagged and AT&T desperately needs 4.3 source code modified for their new UNIX PC, while IBM is attempting to stop this coup by releasing an Sun2 working station in a blue box with IBM painted 10 inches tall on the side. Meanwhile, DEC has been exporting MVI's to the USSR in an attempt to sell anyone these clunkers, while the FBI and CIA hope that the Soviet army uses them as their principle computing environment (bring the Soviet death machine to its knees). dcm ps. How's that? -- David C. Martin - Sun Microsystems / UC Berkeley uucp: ..!ucbvax!sun!dcmartin usps: 2280 California St #8 arpa: dcmartin@Berkeley Mountain View, CA 94040 at&t: 415/960-7458 (O) - 415/967-0506 (H)
dash@persci.UUCP (07/30/85)
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!dashweltyrp@rpics.UUCP (Richard Welty) (08/03/85)
> > Wrongo. Cocaine is a lousy topical anesthetic. Applied to unbroken > skin, the absorption is pretty much el-zippo. As for its use in oro-nasal > surgery, it is effective, but Lidocaine (xylocaine) is far, far, far > ... Gee, the one time it was used as an anesthetic on me it seemed to work pretty well ... or maybe I was just imagining the lack of pain ... -- Rich Welty (I am both a part-time grad student at RPI and a full-time employee of a local CAE firm, and opinions expressed herein have nothing to do with anything at all) CSNet: weltyrp@rpi ArpaNet: weltyrp.rpi@csnet-relay UUCP: seismo!rpics!weltyrp
root@bu-cs.UUCP (Barry Shein) (08/04/85)
Just curious, but about a week ago AMC (cable tv channel) showed a very old (1912?) silent, sepiatone anti-coca-cola propaganda movie. It was quite (self) serious and followed the history of a product called KOKADOPA which was quite transparently a dark colored fizzy soft drink with cocaine in it. Great scenes of the evil inventor putting mounds of cocaine from a pharmaceutical bottle into the mixture and mothers spending the rent money on the stuff while their children starved. In the end the inventor (a doctor's son...that may have been the title?) comes to no good as a broken and addicted young man scorned by everyone and his prominent doctor father broken-hearted over his son's fall. Anyone else catch it? Great flick. -Barry Shein, Boston University
bobn@bmcg.UUCP (Bob Nebert) (08/05/85)
> 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. Another historical background item about Coke was that about the early 1900's Coke got tired of their advertizing slogan and sold it to Maxwell House coffee. The slogan was "Good to the last drop."
oyster@uwmacc.UUCP (Vicious Oyster) (08/07/85)
Anonymous sources inform me that the "coke" discussion will never totally make it into net.misc.coke.