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did coca cola really have cocaine in it or is it only a rumour?

laotzu92 · 70-79, M
@Kidsarentalright @HairbrushDiva From an official US Gov website:
For example, did you know that the original recipe for Coca-Cola contained cocaine?

Coca-Cola’s history has been well-documented. The drink was invented in 1885 by John Pemberton, a pharmacist from Atlanta, Georgia, who made the original formula in his backyard. Pemberton’s recipe contained cocaine in the form of an extract of the coca leaf, which inspired the “Coca” part of the beverage’s name. The “Cola” comes from the kola nut (which contains caffeine, another stimulant).

When Coca-Cola was invented, cocaine was legal and a common ingredient in medicines. People thought it was safe to use in small amounts.
HairbrushDiva · 31-35, F
@laotzu92 I am not trying to be provocative. I think you are trying to be provocative by saying I'm trying to be provocative.
laotzu92 · 70-79, M
@HairbrushDiva No such intention, dear Ms Diva.
HairbrushDiva · 31-35, F
@laotzu92 OK, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. This thread isn't really going anywhere.
smiler2012 · 56-60
{@darkstarfleet] yes it did a very very long time ago but not today 😆 cannot imagine any junkie them sniffing that up there nose some how lol
Nimbus · M
@smiler2012 Obviously you haven't been round Croxteth lately 😛
Nitedoc · 51-55, M
The original coca cola is thought to have not contained "much" ecognine(an early coca leaf extract that was not nearly as strong as cocaine), but the actual amounts as well as the coca cola soft drink formula were never written down so the chemist who developed and marketed coca cola could keep the formula secret. I think it was introduced in the late 1880's to try and get some of the market root beer had created. Side note: The original formula was not written down until the 1960's. It was passed down through the original family that owned coca cola by word of mouth.
Zaphod42 · 51-55, M
Way back in the day it did. It was sold at drug stores for everything from headaches to PMS relief
Queendragonfly · 31-35, F
It was for real. Doctors handed out cocaine like they hand out pain killers now.
GuyWithOpinions · 31-35, M
@Queendragonfly meth was prescribed under the name periten or something. German soldiers also used meth in ww2 to fight for days straight.
HairbrushDiva · 31-35, F
It's a rumour. Where I live we don't listen to rumours unless it's a Fleetwood Mac album.
It probably did. Just like how cough syrup is basically alcohol
ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M
It had traces of cocaine in the very early years back when cocaine was legally available in many medicines. Just like Bromo-Seltzer had actual sodium-bromide in it until that was banned.
Kygirl · F
I personally don't think it does but I always heard that it does.
My guess is that one time it might have but I really don't think that it would now.
I know that it's got a lot of caffeine in it.
Disgustedman · 61-69, M
Couldn't you simply Google the answer?
ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M
@Disgustedman It's more fun to interact with people than to google, innit?
Blazer420 · 36-40, M
Cocaine is a pretty bad drug, smells good thou
It did when it was first made.
Nitedoc · 51-55, M
It really did.
SW-User
It originally contained both cocaine and red wine.

The red wine was the first to be removed from the formula. Then actual cocaine was removed.

However, it still contains coca leaf extract to this day, derived from coca leaves which are "decocainized" at a plant in New Jersey after being imported, with Coca Cola and their chemical company supplier being the only entities in the US that have been granted a special loophole to import coca leaves for decades. Coca Cola has also had its own secret coca farm in Hawai'i during the 1960s until disease wiped out the coca plants. So for now Coca-Cola has a monopolistic and exploitive relationship with coca farmers in Peru which grants Coca Cola sole access to any coca leaves imported (legally) into the US.

However, it is a bit odd that Coca-Cola jumps through all these extraordinary hoops to be the sole legal importer of coca into the US, when the extract is used in such small amounts that it has a negligible effect on the flavor. It's hard to imagine that regulators would make them stop using the "Coca-Cola" brand name they have spent endless amount of money promoting for the last century, just if they finally decided to completely remove coca leaf extract from the formula altogether. Meanwhile, Peruvian farmers are prohibited from exporting other harmless and traditional coca leaf-based products to the US, leaving them depending on cocaine cartels and their exploitive relationship with Coca-Cola.

2023 article:
https://www.eater.com/23620802/cocaine-in-coca-cola-coke-recipe-gastropod

2016 article:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/coca-cola-has-always-had-a-connection-to-the-cocaine_b_57c8757ae4b07addc4119330

1988 article:
https://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/01/business/how-coca-cola-obtains-its-coca.html



Ironically, Coca-Cola's UK website outright lies by saying it cocaine was never an ingredient:
https://www.coca-cola.co.uk/our-business/faqs/does-coca-cola-contain-cocaine

 
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